TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES

• Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics (Tarrytown, NY) has signed an agreement with KreLo GmbH Medical Diagnostics (Ulm, Germany) for the rights to develop an automated stimulating TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) assay used in the differential diagnosis of Graves’ disease. This agreement will make Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics the first IVD distributor of an automated TRAb assay.
  
  
• The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology subsidiary, Curiox Biosystems (Singapore), introduced the new DropArray miniature bioassay that will assist researchers conducting various cell-based tests that had previously been extremely challenging with conventional technology. The new assay maintains the same level of flexibility and convenience as conventional platforms, while reducing certain lab test times by more than 60% and consumable costs by nearly 90%.
  
  
• TIME magazine named the GeneSearch Breast Lymph Node assay by Veridex LLC (Warren, NJ) one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2007. The new gene-based technology can detect the spread of cancer into the lymph nodes more accurately than existing rapid methodologies and, as a result, has the potential to reduce the need for costly second surgeries for breast cancer patients.
  
  
• QIAGEN (Venlo, The Nether­lands) and Ventana Medical Systems Inc. (Tucson, AZ) settled a litigation dispute of expired patents No. 4,849,331 and No. 4,849,332 on mutually agreeable terms. As part of the settlement, Ventana paid an undisclosed cash consideration to QIAGEN, and QIAGEN acknowledged that pursuant to an asset purchase agreement, Ventana has lawfully succeeded to the rights of Beckman Coulter Inc.
  
  
• Corgenix Medical Corp. (Denver) announced the results of its AtherOx preliminary clinical trial, which indicate that the test may identify patients at increased risk of major complications from heart disease by analyzing the presence of oxidized low-density lipoprotein/beta2GPI complexes in patients’ blood. The study was conducted to measure levels of AtherOx in healthy individuals and patients with severe cardiovascular complications.