GastroPanel® examination now possible from a whole blood sample
Biohit Oyj Press Release December 19, 2016 at 09:30 am local time (EET)
Biohit Oyj’s GastroPanel® examination is a unique and the most comprehensive test on the market for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection in asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects as well as for screening of the risks for stomach cancer and vitamin B12 malabsorption.
GastroPanel® detects not just Helicobacter pylori but also atrophic gastritis (atrophy of the stomach mucosa) and the respective dysfunction, caused by Helicobacter pylori or an autoimmune disease. Both of these are the most important risk factors for stomach cancer (1,2). GastroPanel® examination does not have the same inherent medical limitations as other helicobacter tests, e.g. 13C-urea breath test and stool antigen test, which can lead to a delayed diagnosis of atrophic gastritis and its related risks e.g. of stomach cancer (3).
The current GastroPanel® is performed from a plasma sample submitted to laboratory. This requires a centrifugation of the whole blood after drawing the sample. These sample processing steps needed in separation of plasma have been partially a limiting factor for the use of GastroPanel® at doctor’s offices and private practices, which in most cases lack the facilities for centrifugation.
Biohit has now subjected the GastroPanel® examination for further refinements, of which a patent application has been recently submitted. GastroPanel® examination can now be started from a whole blood sample without additional processing steps, like centrifugation and transfer of the plasma (separated from a whole blood sample) into a tube with patient’s data label. The whole blood sample in the labelled tubes can be sent for examination to clinical laboratories without centrifugation or other preparatory steps at the doctor’s office.
Professor Kari Syrjänen, Chief Medical Director, Biohit Oyj: ’This update does not change the properties of the GastroPanel® examination but makes it significantly easier to use especially among doctors who operate on a private practice. Now, when centrifugation and other sample processing steps can be omitted in the context of blood sampling, it is possible to further improve the patient safety and save costs (1-4).’
CEO, Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj:’ We can anticipate that the demand of this very informative and even more easy-to-use GastroPanel® is growing in the health care and particularly in those countries, where health care systems are critically dependent on private practices, like in the UK and in Germany.’
1. www.biohithealthcare.com/additional-information
2. http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/10/5133.full
3. http://www.biohithealthcare.com/limitations-of-helicobacter-pylori-diagnostics
4. http://www.gastropanel.com/decision-makers/screening-model
Additional information:
CEO Semi Korpela, Biohit Oyj
tel. +358 9 773 861
investor.relations@biohit.fi
www.biohithealthcare.com
Biohit in brief
Biohit Oyj is a globally operating Finnish biotechnology company. Biohit’s mission is “Innovating for Health” – we produce innovative products and services to promote research and early diagnosis. Biohit is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and has subsidiaries in Italy and the UK. Biohit's Series B share (BIOBV) is quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki in the Small cap/Healthcare group. www.biohithealthcare.com