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News from Pharmabiz.com India's most
comprehensive pharma portal May 8, 2007
NeoGen Labs to launch newborn
screening tests to detect IEMs in babies
Tuesday, May 08, 2007 08:00 IST
Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
NeoGen Labs,
a newborn screening (NBS) provider to detect inborn errors of
metabolisms (IEMs) in babies, is gearing up to offer the commercial
testing from July this year. The company's one year-old advanced
centralized lab in Bangalore can process about 120, 000 tests
annually.
IEMs prevent the baby from 'processing' food properly, leading to an
accumulation of toxic chemicals in the blood, which are harmful to
its normal development. The test detects abnormal levels of these
chemicals from a single drop of dried blood.
The company is utilizing the exclusive technology of Paediatrics
Screening, USA, the world leader and pioneers Tandem Mass
Spectrometry (MS/MS) for screening IEMs. In order to maximize
the use of the technology, Paediatrics is training the NeoGen team.
NeoGen's NBS known as 'first step' allows detection of over 42
IEMs.
The test is conducted immediately after birth to allow
paediatricians administer faster treatment even before symptoms are
pronounced, thus leading to the baby's normal development. In most
cases, the treatment involves a dietary change or addition of a
vitamin.
So far, the Indian doctors used to send the tests abroad but now
with the commissioning of NeoGen's new facility, reports would be
made available within a week if normal, and within 48 hours if
positive for any of the disorders. If positive, the result is
accompanied by material containing information on the disorder, the
treatment, list of IEM specialists and genetic counsellors in India,
allowing parents to begin treatment immediately.
NeoGen Labs was formed last year by Dr. Rohit Cariappa and Thomas
Mookken. The lab is equipped with evaporators, HPLC, nitrogen
generators to prepare samples and interpret MS/MS results. "Bangalore
meets the target demographic of our market. Only one lab is required
to service the entire country. Samples can be sent from anywhere in
India by courier for the test. We are building a sample collection
network," Nihal George, senior manager, NeoGen Labs told
Pharmabiz.
In India, benefits of NBS have not been realized fully because of
affordability. Only babies which are from families with a history of
genetic disorders are screened for limited metabolic disorders.
Screening babies from high risk families alone is inadequate,
because most of the time these disorders appear in babies with no
family history of metabolic disorders because the parents are 'silent
carriers', stated George.
According to Indian Journal of Paediatrics, annually 24
million babies are born, of which around 21,000 babies are affected
by IEMs accounting for one in every 1,000 in the country.
http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=38715
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