Bayer Diagnostics (a division of Bayer HealthCare) has been granted licences under key patent rights relating to free PSA and tacrolimus tests from Abbott Laboratories
Bayer intends to develop these two new tests for its Advia Centaur and Advia Centaur CP immunoassay systems immediately.
Free PSA test: the free PSA (fPSA) test is primarily ordered when a patient has a moderately elevated total PSA that does not appear to be caused by a non-cancer-related condition.
The results give the doctor additional information about whether a patient is at an increased risk of having prostate cancer and helps with the decision of whether to biopsy the prostate.
This test is complemented on the Advia Centaur and Advia Centaur CP assay menus by Bayer's complexed PSA (cPSA) assay.
fPSA and cPSA are two distinct molecular forms found within total PSA (tPSA).
fPSA predominantly increases in cases of benign prostate disease, while a raised proportion of cPSA can be indicative of cancer.
Measurement of fPSA and cPSA in serum can therefore provide a convenient means of distinguishing men who are unlikely to have prostate cancer from those who are.
Tacrolimus test: the tacrolimus test is designed to determine the amount of immunosuppressant drug in the patient's system.
Primarily, the drug tacrolimus is used as an immunosuppressant in liver transplant patients.
"The addition of fPSA and tacrolimus to our assay offering for the Advia Centaur range allows laboratories to increase their test offering while optimising their overall efficiency", says Fiona Howe, senior product manager in the UK for immunoassay and molecular diagnostics.
"This is another example of Bayer Diagnostics's commitment to expanding the test offering for immunosuppression drugs.
"Tacrolimus is complementary to cyclosporine which is currently also in development and scheduled to release in 2006."
