Abbott’s Hepatitis C Test OK’D

U.S. medical device maker Abbott said Thursday it has been approved to market an automated test that screens for hepatitis C antibodies.

The company said the newly approved Prism HCV test is designed for use by laboratories to screen donors of blood and plasma for antibodies to hepatitis C. However, the new test has not been validated for use with pooled blood specimens, Abbott said.

Another version of the test was previously approved for the U.S. market that screens for antibodies to hepatitis B, as well as two hepatitis B surface antigen tests.

With the Abbott Prism system, we continue to support the infectious disease testing needs of the laboratory while helping them realize greater efficiencies and enhanced operator safety throughout the blood and plasma screening process, said William Brown III, Abbott’s vice president of diagnostic assays and systems development.