To honor the World TB Day on Mar 24, 2015, California-based molecular diagnostics provider Cepheid CPHD along with the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) of South Africa, recently announced the global shipment of the 10 millionth Xpert MTB/RIF cartridge.
This shipment carrying cartridges of Cepheid’s Xpert MTB/RIF test – used to detect the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and rifampin-resistance mutations – was received by Helen Joseph Hospital Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Tuberculosis (TB) – an infectious bacterial disease caused by MTB – most commonly affects one’s lungs. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), TB stands second only to HIV/AIDS as the largest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent. However, TB is preventable and curable.
The Xpert MTB/RIF test runs on Cepheid's GeneXpert System – the world's leading molecular diagnostic platform. According to NHLS, in high-endemic nations, this test with the help of the automated Genexpert platform will help obtain results in about 2 hours only.
In 2011, on World TB Day the NHLS declared a national implementation program to place GeneXpert Systems in all laboratories in the nine high-burden districts of South Africa. Since then, over 300 GeneXpert instruments have been placed in over 200 sites.
Management believes that Cepheid’s MTB/RIF test has brought in a revolution in the field of digital disease detection by delivering real-time, yet potentially actionable and fast outcomes.
Cepheid also announced the launch of its RemoteXpert cloud-based monitoring software– that allows authorized agencies to access GeneXpert results in real time to track and monitor emerging infections, including drug-resistant TB.
In Oct 2014, Cepheid, FIND, and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School announced details of a collaboration to develop Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra, a next-generation test for MTB with increased sensitivity to facilitate detection of patients with smear-negative TB, which is often associated with HIV co-infection.
Currently, Cepheid is developing an additional test to specifically call out extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB – a form of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB) – that is resistant to the most potent TB drugs.
At present, Cepheid offers a range of 20 Xpert tests outside the U.S. and 16 in the domestic market, which is expected to reach 41 and 37, respectively, in the 2017–18 period.
We expect these developments to enable the company to achieve its desired goal and bolster investors’ confidence in this stock, going ahead.
Currently, Cepheid carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked medical instrument stocks include ABIOMED, Inc. ABMD, Inogen, Inc. INGN and Edwards Lifesciences Corp. EW. While ABIOMED and Inogen sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Edwards Lifesciences carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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