January 2014
| Business World Magazine | 17
fers to the agreement as “a cornerstone of the
foundation for MedMira’s future strategy.”
VWR has more than 300 U.S. represen-
tatives on the ground every day, in laborato-
ries, universities and businesses in a variety of
industries. The U.S. accounts for 40 percent
of global in vitro diagnostics sales, which
are expected to reach an estimated value of
$74.2 billion globally by 2018. Rapid test-
ing for diseases such as HIV and hepatitis
are an increasingly important segment of
the U.S. diagnostics industry. The CDC re-
cently implemented revised guidelines call-
ing for routine HIV screening of all people
aged 15-65 and all pregnant women in the
U.S. as part of the normal course of medical
care. Public health organizations in the U.S.
are also ramping up screening programs to
detect hepatitis C infection; it is estimated
that there are 3.2 million people in the U.S.
infected with hepatitis C, of which some 50
to 70 percent are unaware of their infection.
Given the potential to serve in this mar-
ket, Jones says MedMira’s relationship with
VWR will enable the company to bring its
technologies and solutions to a much broad-
er user base than it was previously able to
reach.
