MBDr believes that R&D is an important contributing factor towards maintaining competitiveness, sustainable business growth and improved revenue.

MBDr has adopted a strategy to develop its own intellectual property through the establishment of a system to continuously innovate and improve the Company’s products and processes.

In line with this objective, MBDr has applied for trademarks for its products and intends to continuously innovate and develop new products and improve its manufacturing processes.

Product Development

MBDr’s product development programme includes several new products including:

1. TYPHILIza™ is a microtitre plate EIA test. It allows for the detection of IgM to a specific outer membrane protein of S. typhi. The test can be used as EIA microtitre strips of eight wells or as a 96-well plate. The whole process can also be automated like other microtitre plate tests. It is ideal for private or hospital laboratories that screen large numbers of tests for typhoid per day.
 
2. E-ZDNAamp enables the user to do a single step only in the preparation of the reaction/sample mixture before hybridization. In addition, to making the test easier, the reaction mixture is thermo-stabilized as well to allow for ease of storage, transport (no cold chain required) and use. E-ZDNAamp will reduce the cost per PCR test. E-ZDNAamp can be used for all PCR tests. It is available in packings of 20 tests. E-ZDNAamp will be made available in early 2006.

3. TB PCR™ is a PCR test that targets four genes and has >95% sensitivity and specificity. TBpcr™ can differentiate between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and atypical mycobacteria. It is expected to be a more economical test compared to other TB PCR tests currently available. TBpcr™ is expected to be made available in October 2004.

4. CHOLERA PCR™ is based on a non-virulent specific gene sequence of Vibrio cholerae. The test can identify all biotypes and serotypes of Vibrio cholera. In-house evaluation of 600 samples has shown a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98.5%.
 
5. DENGUE LIZA™ detects both specific IgM and IgG against all the four strains of the dengue virus. The Dengueliza™ test will be using the 96-well microtitre plate format that can be automated for large sample screening or for running a few samples in 8-well strips.

6. JE LIZA™ detects both specific IgM and IgG against the Japanese encephalitis virus. The test uses the 96-well microtitre plate format. It can be automated for large sample screening or for running a few samples in 8-well strips.
 
7. pan-MALARIARapid® is a rapid immunochromatography test for the detection of soluble antigens during the cycle of malarial plasmodium in the blood. The test uses specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against all four plasmodium i.e. P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. The test is in a cassette format for sampling of whole blood to allow for ease of use by health field workers.