HS investor conferenceUniversal Detection fulfills U.K. order for anthrax detection systems

Beverly Hills, California-based Universal Detection Technology (OTCBB: UDTT), a developer of early-warning monitoring technologies for bioterrorism threats, said it has fulfilled the recently announced purchase order from the government of England. The order was for additional consumables and software for two of the company’s BSM-2000, anthrax detection systems, previously purchased by the British government. The order also includes point detection kits which are capable of detecting anthrax, ricin toxin, botulinum toxin, plague, and SEBs. “We are very pleased to have fulfilled this order for counter-bioterrorism solutions to the British Government. This constitutes the second order from the Government that we have received and subsequently fulfilled and we look forward to marketing our counterterrorism solutions to governments and private sector users both domestically and internationally,” said Jacques Tizabi, UDTT’s CEO.

There worrisome developments on the bioterrorism front. A recent study published in Nature Biotechnology said that rapid improvements in biotechnology would allow researchers to generate genetic material starting from just information and raw chemicals. The use of this technology by bioterrorists could allow them to create pathogens which could render a vaccine ineffective; confer resistance to therapeutically useful drugs; enhance the virulence of a pathogen or rendering a non-pathogen virulent; increase transmissibility; alter host range; enable the evasion of a diagnostic or other detection; and enable weaponization. “There is a possibility that a bioterrorist could use a DNA synthesizer to create anthrax bacteria that will be undetectable by current PCR based systems,” said Amir Ettehadieh, UDTT’s director of research and development. “The BSM-2000 is immune to such manipulations as it uses a non-DNA based procedure to detect anthrax,” he added.