Specialty Laboratories Signs Agreement With Roche Diagnostics
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Specialty Laboratories has announced that it has signed an agreement with Roche Diagnostics Corp. to begin offering the AmpliChip CYP450 assay.
Test results using the AmpliChip CYP450, which is powered by Affymetrix microarray technology, will allow physicians to consider genetic information from patients in selecting medications and doses of medications for a wide variety of common conditions such as pain medication, cardiac disease, cancer and depression.
The AmpliChip CYP450 assay analyzes a patient's Cytochrome P450 2D6 and 2C19 genotypes from genomic DNA extracted from a blood sample.
“We are delighted to be one of the first laboratories in the country to perform this revolutionary genetic test, and since we have the assay validated and ready to go, we will be offering this valuable assay almost immediately to our clients across the country to assist in patient care,” said David C. Weavil, chief executive officer of Specialty Laboratories.
“Patients will benefit greatly from the AmpliChip CYP450 assay because it can help determine whether a standard dose of a drug metabolized in a patient with a particular genotype would be appropriate, or whether it might cause significant or serious side effects, or even toxicity.”
“At the other end of the spectrum, it is also possible to predict whether a standard dosing schedule of expensive medications would be cleared from a person's body so quickly that it does not achieve effective therapeutic levels.”
Specialty and Roche will co-market the AmpliChip CYP450 assay, and will launch a marketing campaign to educate clients about the test's value.
Specialty expects the AmpliChip CYP450 assay to be available for ordering by the end of October 2005.
