Medical Services International Begins Shipping VScan TB Test Kits to South Africa

EDMONTON, Alberta, Oct. 31  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Medical Services International Inc. (OTC:MSITF) is pleased to announce that it has been requested to ship its VScan TB test kit to South Africa for testing. The Company has already completed testing of its VScan Tuberculosis (TB) in over 6 countries with excellent results. One of the countries was the Republic of Ukraine where the National Institute of Tuberculosis completed testing of the VScan TB test kit with greater than 80% accuracy. Testing with regulatory agencies completed in China showed an accuracy of 82%. There is no other rapid test kit available on the market that has as high diagnostic results. The VScan TB test kit is the only test available that does not give false positives. The VScan TB test kit only detects ACTIVE TB.

It has been reported in a new report, Diagnosis for Tuberculosis: Global Demand and Market Potential, that a significant and largely untapped global market exists for more effective and affordable tests to diagnose tuberculosis in low and middle income countries where most TB cases occur today.

The report states that one third of the world's population is affected with latent TB and at risk of developing the active disease. HIV is fueling TB epidemics in many countries and a multi- drug resistance is a growing threat. 1.7 million people a year die from TB, many because the infection goes undiagnosed or is diagnosed too late to be cured. The TB and HIV threat continues to grow in many parts of the world. Of the estimated 9 million people who develop active TB every year, most still do not receive a laboratory confirmed diagnosis. The global market for TB diagnostics is more than twice that of the market for drugs used to treat the disease. Between 70 - 90% of the potential available market for new TB diagnostics is concentrated in 22 countries with the highest burden of TB. The VScan TB test kit has been tested in 6 of these countries and is awaiting regulatory approval. It has been approved in two countries so far. The Company is doing testing of the VScan TB test kit in another 11 of these countries. There has been significant interest in the VScan TB test kit that tests for both TB and HIV at the same time.

The majority of recently developed tests serve sophisticated laboratories in industrialized countries, where less than 5% of global tuberculosis cases are found.

"The world urgently needs new, safe, affordable diagnostics to simplify case detection," said Dr. Mario Ravglione, Director of WHO's Stop TB Department. "Despite scientific progress that is rapidly changing other fields, most of the world's TB patients have access only to conventional microscopy which requires repeated testing, may miss half the cases, and which works especially poorly for HIV co-infected patients."

Large markets also exist for point of care screening (clinics and health posts) with a potential market of some 79 million patient evaluations a year. The VScan TB test kit is ideally suited for this market. Independent testing has shown the VScan TB test to be the most accurate test for TB currently available. It only detects active TB and gives no false positives. It is by far more accurate than any other TB test on the market.

As Medical Services obtains regulatory approval in all the different countries that market for the VScan TB test kit will be substantial.

About VScan

The VScan rapid test kit is a single use, easy to use, test for the screening of HIV 1&2, Hepatitis B&C, Tuberculosis (TB), Dengue Fever, Malaria, West Nile, Syphilis and Prostate Cancer. The kits cannot be sold in Canada.

Medical Services International Inc. trades in the United States on the NQB Pinksheets under the symbol "MSITF". For further information, please contact Robert Talbot at [phone] or http://www.medicalservicesintl.com/ or http://www.minerva-biotech.com/ .

NOTE: Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause results to differ materially. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include but are not limited to new economic conditions, risk in product development, market acceptance of new products and continuing product demand, level of competition and other factors described in Company reports and other filings with regulatory bodies. 

DATASOURCE: Medical Services International Inc.



CONTACT:  Robert Talbot of Medical Services International Inc.,

[phone]



Web site:  http://www.medicalservicesintl.com/

http://www.minerva-biotech.com/ 

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