GENEDRIVE PLC 
By ("Epistem" or "the Company")
Epistem signs Tuberculosis channel partner agreement
Epistem (London AIM:EHP), the
biotechnology and personalised
medicine company, is pleased to
announce today the signing of
a sales and marketing agreement
for its rapid molecular test
for Tuberculosis (TB) with
Xcelris Labs, one of India's
leading Genomics research and
Diagnostic testing companies.
Following the completion of
clinical testing, Epistem will
prepare regulatory submissions in
advance of the launch of
its first molecular TB test
including
patient assessment for antibiotic
resistance using its novel
GenedriveTMplatform.
Genedrive™ provides a major
advance in next generation
molecular diagnostic testing. It
provides a rapid (less than
30 minutes), low cost, simple
to use 'Point of Care'
device with high sensitivity
and DNA specificity. This
is applicable to a wide
range of viral, bacterial, fungal
and somatic mutation disease
areas. Genedrive™ will be
targeted at providing the
'gold standard' for TB
identification and antibiotic resistance
testing and will be priced
competitively with existing less
accurate and slower methods
of diagnosis such as
microscopy and culturing. The
World Health Organisation (WHO)
has publicly recommended that
nations incorporate new rapid
molecular tests for tuberculosis
into their disease testing
programs. Designed as a
handheld device, Genedrive™ brings
a new and disruptive approach
to diagnostic testing across a
broad spectrum of infectious
diseases such as TB, Dengue
Fever, HIV and a wide
range of sexually transmitted
diseases (STD's).
India has the largest number
of TB sufferers in the
world, more than twice the
number in China, which has
the second highest infection
rate. According to the
WHO, every year 2 million
new patients in India
develop TB, with the highest
incidence of fatalities occurring
in remote rural areas.
Xcelris will be the channel
partner for
distribution of the
GenedriveTMtechnology across India
and the Indian sub-
