Simon Burton

80 percent of people with tuberculosis (TB), the world’s most deadly infection, do not have a persistent cough and yet are still infective, according to a study led by Amsterdam UMC, published in the Lancet. 

A novel approach to studying the progression of tuberculosis (TB) from infection to disease has identified and treated people at increased risk of developing the disease that current methods of testing would not.

Dr Ben Swift has been awarded a Horizon award by AMI for his ground-breaking work developing a phage-based diagnostic for tuberculosis.

Grant of a patent has been awarded to PBD Biotech for its Actiphage diagnostic for incipient tuberculosis in South Africa, this complements the regional West Africa patent gained earlier this year.

The Translational Microbiology Prize is awarded to an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to translational microbiology.

PBD Biotech, developers of Actiphage® TB, a ground-breaking phage-based diagnostic for laboratory tuberculosis testing, has today announced it has secured a US patent grant for TB diagnostic kit.

The UK’s first Centre for Phage Research officially launched on 16th May 2023 and featured in the UK KTN UK Phage Innovation Showcase will be Actiphage®, a phage-based molecular diagnostic for tuberculosis.

PBD Biotech has obtained grant of its patent application for its Actiphage® incipient tuberculosis diagnostic within the regional African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI). This covers the mainly French-speaking countries of West Africa.

A clinical trial of Actiphage, a promising new diagnostic for tuberculosis infection, has shown for the first time that live bacteria can be detected in the blood of people with incipient TB infection.

Jonnie Yewdall, a former dairy farmer, has been appointed Commercial Director at PBD Biotech. The company recently gained funding to take its Actiphage® blood test for bovine TB (bTB) and Johne’s Disease through the validation required for international industry acceptance.

Worldwide a quarter of a million children die of tuberculosis (TB) each year, early diagnosis would help to save their lives but most are unable to produce the sample of mucus that is needed for the current test.

Actiphage® is a rapid blood test for the mycobacteria that cause bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB) and Johne’s disease. A new paper published in the journal of Microbial Biotechnology (3 December) describes how PBD Biotech developed the test.