Sydney-based Atomo Diagnostics (ASX:AT1) has welcomed the Australian Federal government’s commitment to fund expansion of HIV Self-Testing in the Budget.
Atomo supplies the only HIV Self-Test included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and has been instrumental in the implementation of these pilot programs, now being scaled nationally through funding support from the Federal Government.
The company said that with the new budget support, people with or at risk of HIV will receive unprecedented support ($43.9 million) through better prevention, testing, workforce training and information, with the Government committed to eliminating HIV transmission by 2030.
Additionally, more people in at-risk groups will get free HIV self-test kits through the expanded national HIV self-test mail-out program and the South Australian-based HIV testing "vending machine" pilot will be extended to every state and territory.
Atomo anticipates that a significant portion of the funding committed to these expanded HIV Self- Test programs will be used for procurement of Atomo HIV tests.
The funding of expanded HIV self-test access in the budget comes after the Australian Government’s HIV Taskforce, in November last year, recognised for the first time the critical role HIV self-testing plays in enabling Australia to reach it HIV targets.
Atomo CEO John Kelly said the company remains committed to continuing to work Government and other stakeholders to ensure access to quality HIV self-tests is not a barrier to Australia reaching its 2030 goals.
“We are delighted to see the government recognise the critical need to ensure HIV Self-Test availability across the community and fund the rapid expansion of the national HIV self-test mail-out program and the HIV self-test vending machine pilots. Both have proven extremely successful in increasing testing rates among groups not currently testing via healthcare facility-based services,” he said.