OraSure ringing Nasdaq bell to commemorate World Aids Day

While most recently the company has been making headlines for its work developing a COVID-19 test, Bethlehem’s OraSure originally gained fame for being the first to develop an at-home, oral HIV test. 

With Dec. 1 being World AIDS day, the company is reaffirming its commitment to fighting AIDS, by ringing the closing bell for the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

World AIDS Day is aimed to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic and to mourn the loss of those who have died of the disease.  

“OraSure has played a critical role in the fight against HIV globally since 2002. For more than two decades, we have championed the importance of access to personal information about health through easy-to-use diagnostics, particularly for vulnerable communities around the world most burdened by HIV,” said OraSure President and CEO Carrie Eglinton Manner. “Today we vow to continue that fight, both globally through partnership with non-governmental organizations that provide tests to low- and middle-income countries to help combat the HIV crisis, and domestically through innovative programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions ‘Take Me Home,’ HIV self-test program.”   

Under the CDC program, OraSure may supply up to one million OraQuick In-Home HIV tests to engage individuals who are disproportionately affected by HIV and less likely to have access to key diagnostic, prevention, and treatment services across the United States.  

Almost 1.2 million people aged 13 and older have HIV in the United States, including an estimate of nearly 160,000, who currently do not know that they are infected.