BIOTECHNOLOGY

DDI-Thai Pact: Disease Detection International said that Bangkok RIA Co. Ltd., Thailand’s largest reference medical laboratory, has agreed to market the company’s rapid diagnostic test kits for pregnancy and infectious diseases.

H. Thad Morris, DDI’s president and chief executive, said the three-year distribution agreement was signed by Bangkok RIA’s President Ninlawan Pichayayothin during her visit last week to DDI’s Irvine headquarters.

As part of the deal, DDI has delivered 10,000 diagnostic tests used to detect the virus that causes AIDS to be used for clinical studies in Thailand, said Brad Cooper, DDI’s vice president of finance. Clinical evaluation of the tests will be conducted by Bangkok RIA to provide support data for approval of the kits by Thailand’s Ministry of Health.

Six other DDI diagnostic test kits are included in the agreement which could be marketed immediately in Thailand because, unlike the AIDS test, they do not require approval of the Thailand health ministry, Cooper said.

Cooper said there is strong international interest in the type of rapid test technology in which DDI specializes. Such tests, Cooper said, provide results “in minutes rather than hours.”