Health : U.S. Licenses 5-Minute AIDS Test

WASHINGTON — The government today licensed the quickest test yet for the deadly AIDS virus, a 5-minute process that could screen blood in emergency situations and in Third World nations lacking medical equipment.

With the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Recombigen test, Cambridge Bioscience Corp., of Worcester, Mass., won the race among about a half-dozen pharmaceutical firms trying to develop quicker, easier ways of detecting presence of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus. Although the new test is not intended to replace current tests for the AIDS virus, FDA spokesman Brad Stone said it should prove “useful when a quick screening result is required,” as well as in countries facing shortages of the expensive medical and refrigeration equipment required for other tests.