bioboard · ivf clinic develops improved screening an australian ivf clinic has developed a...

www.asiabiotech.com Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 ■ �

Bioboard

upcoming IssuesLook out for these

2010April BiotechIPLawandRegulation

May Home-BasedHealthcare

June ASEANEcoEfforts

July Excellencein Asia-PacificHealthcare

August TraditionalChineseMedicine

September Biomimicry

October DiagnosticTechnology RevolutioninChina

November MedicinalPlants

December WasteWatch

AUSTRALIA

New Test Will Help Identify Viral Cattle Disease

Bovine viral diarrhea infects up to 90% of cattle herds in Australia, leading to widespread production losses and increased susceptibility to other diseases, according to researcher Sasha Lanyon.

The Animal Science Honours student based at the University’s Roseworthy Campus is working on a project to develop a pooled blood test to identify herds with an active infection and target those animals shedding the virus.

“This disease infects cattle herds worldwide and there are control and eradication programs in place in various European countries, but there is very little research into bovine viral diarrhea in Australia,” Sasha says.

Spot blood test samples of 82 beef and 32 dairy herds in 2008 by the Department of Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia (PIRSA) showed that the overwhelming majority of cattle had been exposed to bovine viral diarrhea (BVD). The virus is spread by close contact between cattle and manifests in different ways, resulting in respiratory infections, infertility or abortion, still births, mouth ulcers and severe weight loss among cattle.

Sasha has developed a pooled testing approach by combining blood samples from several animals in a random selection of beef cattle. She is also testing bulk tank milk samples among dairy cattle. “Testing pooled samples rather than spot tests can reduce the number of tests needed to identify the virus and, in turn, reduce the cost of testing for producers,” she

says. Spot tests cost in the order of $400 (15 animals are recommended for spot testing), compared to $24 for a one-off pooled test.

As part of her project Sasha is also looking at management practices which can increase the chances of cattle being infected with the virus. A pestivirus vaccine is available for bovine viral diarrhea but the 2008 PIRSA survey suggested that the vaccine was not yet widely used in South Australia.

“The risk of cattle contracting the virus can be decreased by pre-purchase testing of cattle and/or vaccination,” Sasha says. “Unfortunately many farmers are not aware of the vaccine or choose not to use it.”

Vision CRC Technology to Control Myopia

Scientists from the Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC) in Australia on Monday announced that myopia, or short-sightedness, can be controlled with new technology. This ground breaking discovery was based on research conducted by Vision CRC partners - the University of Houston College of Optometry and the Brien Holden Vision Institute, located at the University of New South Wales.

Myopia affects over 1.6 billion people globally, with two thirds of those affected living in the Asia region. If unchecked, the number

4 ■ Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 www.asiabiotech.com

Bioboard

is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2020. There are 177 million people affected in India, which equates to 15% of the population.

Successful basic research on the nature and cause of myopia has led to the discovery that the peripheral retinal image plays a major part in stimulating eye growth and myopia. Large scale clinical trials testing both spectacles and contact lenses designed to control the position of the peripheral image and involving over 500 children in China and Australia, have produced promising results.

With myopia, instead of a distant image being focused on the retina, as it needs to be for clear vision, it is focused in front of the retina. Myopia often occurs when children commence school (ages six to seven), and if left undetected the condition progresses and can adversely impact the child’s education and social development.

Professor Brien Holden, CEO of the Vision CRC, explained, “For hundreds of years focusing defects of the eye have been corrected by simply moving the visual image backwards and forwards with spectacle lenses. Professor Earl Smith from the University of Houston College of Optometry, has demonstrated that if we move the central image onto the retina but leave the peripheral image behind the retina, the peripheral image can drive the eye to elongate, causing myopia to increase. The beauty of this new technology is that it addresses this problem by bringing the peripheral image forward, onto or even in front of the retina, and at the same time independently positioning the central image on the retina giving clear vision. The commercialization of this technology is the most important outcome for the CRC program because of

the potential vision and eye health benefits,” Professor Holden said.

Professor Holden announced that the breakthrough technology has been licensed to Carl Zeiss Vision (CZV) and developed into the first spectacle lens of its kind through a joint project with CZV lens designers. This new spectacle lens will be launched under the ZEISS brand name throughout Asia from April of this year.

The Vision CRC has also licensed its myopia control technology to CIBA VISION for contact lens applications. Professor Holden added, “Myopia can be a serious eye condition. High myopia significantly increases the risk of cataract, glaucoma, and retinal detachment, all potentially blinding conditions and the public health risk is significant.”

Dr Padmaja Sankaridurg, Head of the Myopia Program at Vision CRC, emphasized the nature of the new technology’s appeal. “Our unique lens designs act to curve or shift the peripheral image forward, thereby removing the stimulus to axial elongation and myopia progression,” she said. “We are continuing testing in Chinese and Australian children and young adults. So far, the trials have found that the first spectacle lens prototypes based on this new technology slow the rate of progress of myopia by 30% in children six to 12 years of age, where the child has a history of parental myopia,” she said.

Professor Smith, from the University of Houston, commented, “Evidence shows that the number of individuals with myopia will dramatically escalate with increasing urbanization and less outdoor activity. As urbanization has increased in China, the prevalence and average amount of myopia has also increased. Recent evidence indicates that similar

trends are occurring in the US and Australia. This ongoing epidemic of vision loss is associated with spiraling health and social costs, especially in many developing countries where over 80% of children have no correcting spectacles or contact lenses,” he said. This new technology is not just for children either. Over 25% of myopes in the Western world are adult-onset myopes, which often begins at University. We believe that this technology has potential benefits for all myopes,” Professor Smith said.

Living Skin for Burns Victims

Australian scientists are working towards creating a living, full-thickness replacement skin for burns victims and hope to begin animal trials.

Research i s underway to reproduce in the laboratory fully-functioning skin for transplant which could transform the lives of those left with serious burn injuries, a spokeswoman for the Sydney Burns Foundation said.

Burns victims are currently treated with skin grafts — pieces of their own skin taken from unharmed parts of their body — or with small sheets of skin grown in a laboratory using their skin cells. Laboratories however, can only grow epidermis — the thin outer layer of skin — and this cannot stretch, perspire, grow hair, or have normal feeling or movement.

Researchers at the Sydney Burns Foundation, a collaboration between the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital, hope to counter this problem by developing a full-thickness, living skin to be transplanted to burns victims. Sydney University Professor Peter Maitz said extensive testing was underway


Bioboard

revolutionize the way that people test specifically for chromosome translocation,” he said.

Glaucoma Affecting 150,000 Australians

More than 150,000 Australians have been diagnosed with the vision-destroying condition glaucoma but just as many may have it but don’t know.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness worldwide and thousands of Australians are living with the disease, federal Ageing Minister Justine Elliot said as she launched an awareness week.

“It is known as the sneak thief of sight,” she said at Parliament House, adding the condition was gradual and often went undetected. Glaucoma did not discriminate on the basis of age but the likelihood of contracting it increased with age with one in 10 Australians over the age of 80 developing the disease.

“There are more than 150,000 people with diagnosed glaucoma in Australia and estimates suggest a further 150,000 unaware that they are living with the condition,” Ms Elliot said.

The good news was that early detection, through regular eye checks, could significantly reduce the impact of this condition. “Early intervention

to establish base data for testing on animals in the near future.

“Burns injury is one of the most severe and disabling traumas a person can sustain,” Maitz said in a statement. “While modern burn and intensive care treatment has saved many lives, there is still a widening gap between achieving survival and real quality of life after a severe burn injury.”

Maitz said when burns go through all the layers of skin, doctors are often only able to replace them with a “thin, thin layer... Whilst it will close the wound, it has no elasticity. It cannot sweat, it cannot regulate temperature, it does not metabolize — produce anything. These are all functions of the normal skin.”

He said while burns victims could often be kept alive by hospitals, it was up to the plastic surgeon to make their lives worth living. “If that person then leaves the hospital and is a complete scar that can’t move around, can’t use their hands, can’t eat properly, can’t do their personal hygiene, the question needs to be asked, are we failing our patients?”

IVF Clinic Develops Improved Screening

An Austral ian IVF cl inic has developed a technique that could revolutionize the pre-screening of embryos, boosting the prospects of many couples seeking to have a healthy baby.

Sydney IVF has developed an improved method of PGD - Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis - which allows embryos to be checked to rule out those likely to miscarry or prone to hereditary disease.

Scientific director Steven McArthur sa id convent iona l PGD processes were very good at

flagging those embryos with genetic abnormalities ahead of implantation in a woman’s womb, though it could be too sensitive. “With the old technique ... there was a high false negative rate,” Mr McArthur said. “With this method, we are able to look at the DNA more accurately, and what we’ve found is a doubling of the number of embryos available for transfer. Patients who would otherwise have had one or two, would see themselves having two or in the best case having four embryos available for transfer.”

Mr McArthur said the new technique enabled more healthy embryos to be identified and this increased a couple’s chance of a successful full-term pregnancy without going through repeated IVF cycles.

Less than 10 percent of couples who seek pregnancy help at an IVF clinic do so to access PGD services. The chief concern for these couples was usually not their fertility but their genetic make-up, as they could carry chromosomes which made them prone to repeated miscarriages. Or they had a family history of hereditary disease, such as cystic fibrosis or Fragile X Syndrome, that a couple wanted to prevent from being passed on to their child.

“Very much, they have a history of (hereditary) conditions in their family and a lot have lost children,” Mr McArthur said. “They get to a point where they seek out another choice in their reproductive capacity.”

Sydney IVF will publish its improved PGD method in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction, ensuring other IVF clinics with similar equipment can now freely replicate it.

“This technique can be taken by clinics nationally and internationally ... so across the board it should

� ■ Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 www.asiabiotech.com

Bioboard

and better treatments mean that we are able to slow the progression of the disease and prevent further vision loss,” she said, adding World Glaucoma Week was a reminder for people to have regular eye checks.

Bionic Eye Design to be Unveiled

A Melbourne consortium will unveil its prototype for a bionic eye.

The prototype will be revealed at the Melbourne launch of Bionic Vision Australia (BVA), which aims to improve the sight of people suffering degenerative vision loss.

The group comprises the Bionic Ear Institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia, the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales and National Information and Communications Technology Australia.

BVA chairman Professor David Penington, research director Professor Anthony Burkitt and Leighton Boyd, a sufferer of retinitis pigmentosa and president of Retina Australia (Victoria) will attend the launch.

Researchers hope to achieve an Australian first to implant the prototype into Australia’s first bionic eye recipient.

Australian Scientists in TB Drug Breakthrough

Australian scientists said they had discovered a drug which could cure tuberculosis at its non-infectious stage and could be the first major breakthrough on the disease in 50 years.

Bacteriologist Nick West said researchers at Sydney’s Centenary Institute had developed a drug which could essentially combat the disease before it takes hold, potentially saving millions of lives around the world.

West said it would be the first time in history that dormant or asymptomatic, non-infectious TB would be able to be treated, potentially stemming a deadly tide of infection which claimed two million lives every year. “Unfortunately, the antibiotics we use to fight TB aren’t effective against latent TB and can only be used when the disease becomes active,” he explained.

If successful the drug would be the the first new treatment for TB since 1962, according to the institute which is affiliated with the University of Sydney.

CHINA

China Suffering Diabetes Epidemic: Report

China now has a diabetes “epidemic” as obesity rates rise, a study warned, with one in 10 adults in the rapidly developing nation suffering from a disease already rampant in the West.

The study in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that more than 92 million men and women are living with diabetes in

China, or almost 10 percent of adults in the world’s largest population of 1.3 billion people.

“Our results indicate that diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the general adult population in China,” said the study carried out by 20 Chinese researchers. “Given its large population, China may bear a higher diabetes-related burden than any other country,” it said.

The study said another 148 million people were considered to be pre-diabetic, or showing early symptoms of developing diabetes, a condition that can lead to cardiovascular disease, China’s leading cause of death. The report added that most cases of diabetes in China remained undiagnosed.

By comparison, according to the American Diabetes Association, the worldwide prevalence of diabetes for all age groups was estimated to be 2.8 percent in 2000, rising to 4.4 percent in 2030. That would take the number of diabetes sufferers worldwide from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030. In the United States, 24 million people or eight percent of the population had diabetes in June 2008, official data show.

As China’s economic growth outpaced the rest of the world’s, so has the increase in health problems linked to growing prosperity, according to Chinese researchers.

Since China’s economic boom went into high gear in the 1980s, millions of people have left the countryside for jobs in cities - ditching bicycles for cars and embracing aspects of Western living such as fast-food joints. “In the last 10 years, with the country’s economy expanding quickly and people’s standard of living improving, people’s lifestyles have changed,” said Yang Wenying, one of the report’s 20 authors, who is head of endocrinology at Beijing’s


Bioboard

China-Japan Friendship Hospital.“China’s economic development

has gone from a situation of not being able to eat enough, of poverty, to having enough food and warm clothes, and doing much less exercise,” she said.

The Chinese study was based on a representative sample of more than 46,000 adults aged 20 years or older from 14 provinces and municipalities. As well as carrying out tests approved by the World Health Organization for diabetes, researchers also questioned respondents on lifestyle habits such as smoking, alcohol intake, dietary habits and physical activity. It found that the effects associated with the rapid pace of growth in the world’s third largest economy were a driving factor in the spread of diabetes.

“The aging of the population, urbanization, nutritional changes, and decreasing levels of physical activity, with a consequent epidemic of obesity, have probably contributed to the rapid increase,” the report said.

There are more than 60 million obese people in China, and another 200 million who are overweight, according to a Chinese health ministry statement that cited a 2004 nationwide survey. Previous studies of diabetes carried out in China since the 1980s had also found a marked increase but were not comparable because of variations in sampling and definitions of the disease, the study said.

Chinese Researchers Discover First Therapeutic Hepatitis B Vaccine in the World

Prof. Wen Yumei, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician at Fudan University School of Medicine, disclosed that a research team, led

by her, has worked out the first therapeutic hepatitis B vaccine in the world, and will terminate its clinical trials at the end of the year. After that, the therapeutic vaccine will apply for an approval for entering the market.

We n e x p l a i n e d t h a t a therapeutic vaccine is a therapy sitting between drugs and immune vaccines. Compared with the interferon therapy that has been widely applied at the present stage, the therapeutic hepatitis B vaccine enjoys numerous merits, including a shortened treatment process, reduced side effects, and lower costs.

In Annual Rite, Chinese Science Showered With Riches

Last year, Chinese researchers were over the moon when the central government bestowed a 30% increase in R&D spending. This year, they are being brought back to earth—but really can’t complain.

At the opening session of the National People’s Congress, officials announced that the science and technology budget will rise 8% to 163.3 billion RMB ($24 billion) in

2010.“We need to emancipate our

minds and boldly make breakthroughs and innovations,” Premier Wen Jiabao told the annual gathering of China’s nearly 3000 appointed legislators. Although his “Report on the Work of the Government” contains few details of specific programs, Wen called out several areas of research for which his government “will make farsighted arrangements,” including nanoscience, climate change, aerospace, and oceanography. Wen also pledged to “energetically attract high-caliber personnel from overseas”—a continuation of a policy that has successfully wooed many top Chinese scientists back to their homeland.

The b ig winner may be environmental science. According to a planning document released at the meeting by the country’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), science and technology priorities this year include new energy sources, energy conservation and environmental protection, marine technology, and “biotechnological breeding.” Besides the science spending, another 141.3 billion RMB ($20.7 billion) will be spent on protecting the environment.

NDRC pledged to clean up key environmental hot spots such as Tai Lake, which has been beset in recent years by algal blooms, and sources for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, a $60 billion plan to redirect water—much of it polluted—to arid and heavily populated northeast China. Wen also noted plans this year to “accelerate afforestation, increase forest carbon sinks, and expand our forests by at least 5.92 million hectares.” In 2009, trees were planted on 5.88 million hectares, increasing the percentage of

� ■ Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 www.asiabiotech.com

Bioboard

China’s land area covered by forests to 20.36%. That hits a target set by the State Forestry Administration, which in 2006 vowed that a fifth of China’s land area would be forested by 2010. Four years ago, the figure stood at 18.2%.

Although the reports are relentlessly upbeat, a few troubling messages managed to slip out. For instance, food security remains a major concern: Grain output in 2009 was virtually unchanged from last year at 530 million tons, despite a healthy increase the year before and an initiative under way to boost output by 50 million tons by 2020.

HONG KONG

Swine Flu’s Got New Genes On

The novel H1N1 virus behind the swine flu pandemic has in many ways proved less frightening than initially feared. It has not overwhelmed health-care systems, led to massive deaths, or even mutated much from the isolates that first surfaced in April 2009.

A new report from Hong Kong however, which conducts the world’s

most comprehensive surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs, has described the first instance of a swine virus picking up a gene from the novel H1N1 circulating in humans.

As first noted in a Hong Kong government press release, a surveillance team led by virologist Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University found the virus in a pig at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse.

“The pandemic H1N1 virus has been very stable in humans,” Peiris said. And its evolution has arguably been studied more closely in real time than that of any influenza virus in history. “On the other hand, the virus enters pigs and it appears that reassortment may be taking place more readily (with pig flu viruses) in pigs. So one has to take seriously the possibility that any significant change this virus makes … may well come from that quarter, rather than from humans”.

The new strain, which came from a pig imported from mainland China, has been found in only one animal, and there’s no indication that it is particularly virulent. Still, pig farms in several countries have reported infection from humans to pigs of the novel H1N1, indicating that it can easily move back into its original host. And of particular concern is the fact that pig cells are uniquely receptive to influenza viruses from swine, humans, and birds, making swine a dangerous “mixing vessel” for new variants.

Peiris and his co-workers declined to discuss the findings in detail because they have submitted a paper for publication that describes the new virus. But he said the finding underscores a point that he and many colleagues have been shouting from the rooftops since the swine flu pandemic surfaced: Most regions of the world—including

North America and Europe—are far too lax about routinely checking pigs for novel flu viruses. “We need much more intensive surveillance in pigs globally,” contends Peiris, adding that such reassortments are likely occurring outside China.

A report published online by the Journal of Infectious Diseases s imi lar ly ca l l s for increased surveillance of humans who work in the commercial hog industry. This report from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory describes a novel swine influenza found in three workers at a Saskatchewan hog farm. The never-before-described virus did not involve the novel H1N1 but instead picked up the surface genes from the seasonal human H1N1 virus that has long infected humans and combined them with what’s known as the triple-reassortant swine influenza. The virus did not appear to spread from human to human but once again proved that the triple-reassortant swine influenzas—a family the novel H1N1 belongs to—are unusually promiscuous and need to be watched carefully.

INDIA

Apollo Hospitals to Conduct Research in Ayurveda


Bioboard

Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine struggling to get due recognition owing to its inadequate scientific validation, has now found a new patron in Apollo Hospitals. The chain will carry out research to establish Ayurveda as a potent system of medicine worldwide.

“The Indian system of medicine has faced many roadblocks due to lack of enough research. We are set to carry out scientific studies on Ayurveda and other systems of medicine,” Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of the Apollo Hospital chain, said.

He said many countries like the US have claimed that several Indian medicines have heavy metals beyond the permissible limit. Many also claim that these

treatments are not backed by scientific validation.

“Here, we are taking it up. We will conduct research in our hospitals across India and come up with a database. After that we will offer willing patients these treatments,” Reddy added. He said Apollo has already tied up with a leading Ayurveda house in Kerala. “Once we provide the scientific validation, we will set up a chain of ayurveda centers to provide treatment for patients,” Reddy said.

Project to Check Heart Disease in Corporates Launched

A cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention project expected to benefit 50,000 members from 100 corporate organizations was launched in Andhra Pradesh.

Designed by the Medwin Heart Foundation, the Indian Institute of Public Health and supported by corporate bodies, the ‘Healthy

Hearts Project’ is a worksite CVD prevention programme. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah launched the five-year project at Prevent India 2010, a national-level conference on CVD prevention, here. Under the project, 50,000 members from 100 corporate organizations would be enrolled.

Ramesh Babu, managing director of the Medwin Heart Foundation, said the target populations’ baseline parameters would be established, v a r i o u s h e a l t h p r o m o t i o n interventional activities would be facilitated and the parameters would be closely monitored for the next five years.

Cardiovascular disease was responsible for 17.1 million deaths globally in 2004 and projected to account for 23.6 million deaths in 2030. India will forego USD 237 billion in national income over the next 10 years as a result of premature deaths caused by heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, he said.

T h e h e a l t h p r o m o t i o n interventional activities under the project will be facilitated by a group of local champions selected from the participating companies. They would be trained in lifestyle modification tools. Ideal health behavior metrics like non-smoking, healthy weight, appropriate levels of physical activity and healthy eating patterns will be inculcated.

The project will be implemented in association with industry bodies like The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Information Technology and Services Industry Association of Andhra Pradesh (ITsAP), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and American Chambers of Commerce (AMCHAM).

Indian Scientist Develops Low-cost Cancer Detector

An Indian scientist has developed a blood-based cancer biomarker which can potentially work as a low-cost diagnostic tool to detect different human cancers. It is perhaps the world’s first low-cost diagnostic tool for detection of cancer in the human body.

Early cancer detection can significantly enhance chances of a patient’s recovery.

“It is a simple blood-test kit, much like a pregnancy or diabetes test. I have developed a bio-molecular marker of cancer in blood, which can easily track cancer through blood test,” Professor R.N. Sharan of the North-Eastern Hills University (NEHU) said.

The bio-molecular tool has passed preliminary trials and is now being vetted through multi-center tests in the US and Japan. The kit may be ready for mass production in about two to three years’ time, he said. “The test can be performed by any individual at home and it should not cost more than Rs.100-150. What it requires is a small amount of blood, which can be drawn from a finger tip,” he said.

Sharan, a leading biochemist said it took him and his team of PhD students over two decades to develop the bio-molecular marker of cancer. “Numerous scientific aspects need to be looked into and understood in mouse and cell culture models before a sound hypothesis can be put forward,” he informed.

“We have now developed and standardized a minimally-invasive, non-radioactive and highly sensitive immunoassay to quantify the bio-marker in blood samples of patients”, the biochemist said. He added that the phase 1 clinical studies have been concluded. These involved a study of 112 human cancer patients


Bioboard

along with 68 normal individuals. “Eighteen different types of cancer were covered in this study and the results support the hypothesis fully,” he informed.

As per procedures, clinical phase 2, a multi-centric study, is being initiated in India in collaboration with the Global Discovery Centre of a US-based multinational company covering cancer patients from 3-4 cancer and general hospitals in Delhi. It is proposed that over 350 human samples from patients with almost all types of cancer will be analyzed in this phase. Potentially, the whole test can be packaged in a simple kit.

The test can be conducted by following simple procedures by anyone in primary health centers or even at home. The diagnostic kit can be used for regular screening of population for cancer, who are visiting a hospital, health clinic, or a primary health center for any other medical conditions.

Sharan has already secured an Indian patent. It is planned that appropriate patents for the same will be filed with other countries as well. Conjoined Twins Separated After a 14-hour surgery at Delhi hospital

Showcasing yet another feat of Indian doctors, two conjoined twins were separated successfully after a marathon surgery at Delhi’s Batra hospital.

The preparation for the children’s surgery commenced with the kids being given blood transfusions to build up their hemoglobin which was low, cleansing of their intestines and urinary tracts to prevent post operative complications.

Pre-operative work up was done in a systematic and detailed

manner with extensive blood tests, ultrasounds, high resolution CT Scans and MRIs with 3D reconstruction of the same. Radio nuclear renal scans with fractional functions of the kidneys were also done.

“Nutritionally, the children were built up before surgery. Both the kids weighed 12 kilogram in total. These conjoint twins were fused with a lower part of the pelvis, spine, hip bones, legs with a common intestinal tract and common genito-urinary tract. These are genetic defects at an embryonic level with it being very rare. Very few cases have been successfully been operated upon worldwide in the 50 years and just a handful in India,” Dr. Sanjeev Bagai, CEO, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre stated.

The surgery commenced with both the children being given anesthesia separately but simultaneously. “After putting the children to sleep central lines were put into the major vessels to monitor body functions as blood pressure, heart rate, central venous pressure and to give fluids and blood as required,” said Dr. Pawan Gurha of Critical Care.

The children were then made to lie on their abdomen and the surgery was started from the back. After making the skin incisions, the skin flaps were raised. The lower ends of the spinal column were united which were separated gradually with infinite care so as not to damage any nerves. The total time taken was about 15 hours.

“Eight surgical teams of 27 total specialists and 12 dedicated nursing staff worked on these children simultaneously. This has been a phenomenal success story not only for the Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre, but also for the Indian Medical Fraternity which

has truly made rapid strides to be world leaders in healthcare. The full medical team was of Batra Hospital full time doctors, which are world leaders in human intellect and clinical skills,” said Dr. Sanjeev Bagai, C.E.O.

“The children are now being observed in the pediatric intensive care for close monitor and care. This surgery could be a revolutionary path breaker for high end specialized surgical procedures in children,” he added.

JAPAN

Genetically Modified Mosquitos may Help Fight Malaria

Japanese scientists have developed a genetically modified mosquito that vaccinates as it bites and could help prevent the spread of malaria.

The research team has created an insect producing a natural vaccine protein in its saliva, which is injected into the bloodstream when it bites. The “prototype” mosquito carries a vaccine against Leishmania, another potentially fatal parasite disease spread by sand flies. Leishmania infection can cause painful sores, fever and weight loss and if untreated may destroy the liver and spleen.

The findings revealed that mice bitten by the vaccinating insect

www.asiabiotech.com Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 ■ 11

Bioboard

generated antibodies against the Leishmania organism, indicating immunization.

“Following bites, protective immune responses are induced, just like a conventional vaccination but with no pain and no cost,” said study leader professor Shigeto Yoshida, from Jichi Medical University in Shimotsuki, Japan. “What’s more, continuous exposure to bites will maintain high levels of protective immunity, through natural boosting, for a life time. So the insect shifts from being a pest to being beneficial,” Yoshida added.

Scientists are still working on developing an effective malaria vaccine, so Yoshida’s study was very much a “proof of concept”. However, ethical considerations may also get in the way of using “flying vaccinators” to control malaria, he said.

The study was published in the journal Insect Molecular Biology.

SINGAPORE

NUHS to Partner Harvard

Singapore medical students will get a better chance to intern at the Harvard medical school soon.

A partnership agreement between the National University Health System (NUHS) and Harvard University’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre (BIDMC) was signed recently, paving the way for collaboration in research, education and clinical care.

The move is timely as NUHS will be embarking on its American-styled residency training program. As part of the program, graduating students from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine can opt not to do a year of broad-based hospital

training as housemen. Instead, they can apply to train in one of seven specialities - internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, preventive medicine, psychiatry, emergency medicine and pathology - at a medical institution.

Dean of the medical school, Professor John Wong said, “Starting a new program in Singapore is always challenging. Given the strength of BIDMC here, we would be able to learn and develop similar programmes for the benefit of the students.”

Dr Mark Zeidel, Physician-in-Chief and Chairman of Medicine at BIDMC added, “We can learn from each other as we develop novel approaches diseases. For instance, we rarely see malaria in the US and it is a big deal. But not in Singapore.”

S’pore Team Develops Mobile ECG Machine

A team of Singaporean researchers in the private sector has developed a p o r t a b l e a n d a f f o r d a b l e electrocardiograph (ECG) machine.

The machine - known as the CP50 - is the first of New York-based medical diagnostic equipment maker Welch Allyn’s products to be designed and developed in Singapore since it started operations here six years ago. It was first launched in the United States last month.

An ECG records the heart’s electrical pattern and is used to detect cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart disease, which is the leading cause of death globally. Just last year, EPI Life - a mobile phone fitted with an ECG - and a T-shirt that can measure the wearer’s ECG, were developed by researchers from Ephone International and the National University of Singapore.

While those two products were meant more for the mass market,

the CP50 is intended for physicians’ use. The CP50 is mobile and can be battery operated, which allows doctors to take it to patients’ homes. It can also be connected to the computer through an ethernet cable, thumb drive or USB port, giving doctors the option of transferring the patient’s data onto the computer for easy reference.

The CP50, which retails at less than $2,000, is about 20% cheaper than other ECGs on the market that have equal capabilities. “Our aim was to build a product that is affordable, yet at the same time does not compromise on its functionality,” said Mr Samuel Lai, the director of research and development for the Welch Allyn facility in Singapore.

Leading the project was 38-year-old Vincent Leong, whose job required him to coordinate across different countries and time zones. “Working in a multinational company like Welch Allyn, late hours are inevitable. But the advantage is that we have experience and are able to ask the right questions and address potential problems at the start,” he said. The team took 20 months to develop the CP50, which Mr Leong claims is fast for the company and industry.

The head of the software team, Mr Michael Lim, 39, said one challenge the team faced was that ‘almost all the engineers did not have prior experience developing medical technology’. Through hard work, they managed to overcome the hurdles. “You’d be surprised at how much the engineers know now. Months before, they were clueless; now they will be able to tell you numerous facts about the heart,” a beaming Mr Lim said.

Currently, efforts to increase the talent pool for the medical technology industry are under way.


Bioboard

Collaborations, such as the Singapore-Stanford biodesign programme jointly launched by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research with Stanford University, are examples of the Government’s efforts to expand Singapore’s base of medical device innovators.

“Located in the heart of Asia, Singapore presents a vantage point for companies that seek to identify opportunities for markets across the region,” explained EDB’s director of biomedical sciences, Mr Beh Kian Teik.

The medica l t echno logy manufacturing sector contributed $3 billion in manufacturing output and employed more than 8,200 people last year, said an EDB spokesman. For the head of the electrical team, Dr Luo Yaolong, 46, the experience of working in the medical technology industry has been fulfilling. “Medicine is fundamental to a human being. I’m glad that the products I develop can make a difference to others,” he said.

Novel Method to Produce Precise Medical Images for Detection of Diseases

We have heard of how criminals can be traced through the latest IT technology in imaging – when blur images can be sharpened through technology, revealing the face of the suspect. Likewise, when catching the “culprits” behind ailments such as heart disease (where one out of three deaths in Singapore is caused by cardiovascular disease or stroke), clinicians need to look at clear and concise images.

Dr Sun Ying at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been researching this area for the last seven years. Starting with her

PhD at Carnegie Mellon, and later working with Siemens Corporate Research, USA, she continues to specialize in software for MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) when she joined the NUS Faculty of Engineering in 2007.

Her recently published paper, co-authored with her PhD student Li Chao, “Nonrigid Registration of Myocardial Perfusion MRI Using Pseudo Ground Truth” was runner up for the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Invention (MICCAI) 2009 Young Scientists Award under the Medical Image Computing: Registration category.

In her paper, Dr Sun discussed her method to remove “noise” from the perfusion map of a beating heart. Her technology aims to stabilize the fuzziness caused by temporal movement of the heart and patient, so that warning signs can be captured clearly in the MRI process. Perfusion MRI is the process where a contrast agent is pumped through the blood vessels into an organ to detect warning signs. Because the contrast agent shows up bright in an MR image, it provides an effective way to track the blood flow through the organ. Explained Dr Sun, “For example, in areas where the muscles are working well, the contrast agent passes through them faster, compared to those areas where the muscles or blood vessels may not be working normally.”

Myocardial perfusion MRI has demonstrated great potential for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases. However, patient breathing during the process often causes large variations to the left ventricle in different frames of the imaging. Variations in the heart rate may also affect the appearance of the heart in the image.

Using “nonrigid registration,”

Dr Sun’s algorithm resolves the differences in two different images due to such temporal changes. Current methods used to resolve these challenges are expensive and not as accurate. “This is a novel registration method that overcomes the challenges arising from time-varying intensity. ‘Pseudo ground-truth’ is a motion-free sequence estimated from the observed perfusion data,” explained Dr Sun.

Dr Sun and her team have tested their method on nine slices of perfusion images from seven patients. The images were acquired on Siemens Sonata MR scanners following injection of Gd-DTPA (contrast agent).

“Our experimental results on real patient data have shown that our method is able to effectively compensa t e f o r the e l a s t i c deformation of the heart, and that it significantly outperforms current registration methods for myocardial perfusion images,” said Dr Sun.

Dr Sun’s method also paves the way for early diagnosis of other diseases – not necessarily related to the heart. By applying her method on CT scans and MRI, enhanced images of other organs such as the kidneys or lungs -- can be captured in images through CT scans or MRI.

“Most of the time, it’s too late when we detect the signs and symptoms. A method that is sensitive and able to capture subtle changes can let us know of certain warning patterns before it is too late,” said Dr Sun.

Singapore Got S$1.2 bn Investment in BMS in 2009

Biomedical sciences investments in Singapore amounted to S$1.2 billion in total fixed asset investment and S$700 million in total business

www.asiabiotech.com Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 ■ 1�

Bioboard

spending in 2009. When fully implemented, it will create more than 1,600 jobs for professionals, managers, engineers, research scientists and engineers, and skilled workers. The investments will also contribute S$1.3 billion in value-added per annum. The biomedical manufacturing output grew steadily to about S$21 billion in 2009.

In 2009, the global biomedical sciences companies strengthened their partnerships with Singapore to address the industry’s challenges and Singapore is well-positioned to be their home-base to harness Asia’s growing opportunities.

Speaking to the media, Mr Julian Ho, Assistant Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) said, “The global biomedical sciences industry is confronted with the need to improve R&D productivity. At the same time, they need to navigate Asia’s complexities and diversity to effectively tap into the region’s fast-growing markets. As Asia’s leading bio-cluster, Singapore is well-positioned to help biomedical sciences companies accelerate their innovation and capitalize on Asia’s growth story.”

“In 2009, global biomedical sciences companies have located strategic functions in Singapore that include regional headquarters (e.g. Medtronic, Quintiles, Takeda), first-in-Asia and global manufacturing facilities (e.g. GlaxoSmithKline, Illumina, Lonza, Medtronic, ResMed, Roche) and R&D bases in Asia (e.g. Abbott, 3M, Merck, Roche, Inviragen, FORMA). These investments will strengthen Singapore’s position as a strategic home-base to drive biomedical sciences companies’ business expansion and innovation in Asia,” noted Mr Beh Kian Teik, Director, Biomedical sciences,

Singapore EDB.S i n g a p o r e p r e s e n t s k e y

advantages for companies that seek to address the impending patent cliff and develop innovative medical devices for Asia. Leading companies (e.g. AstraZeneca, Bayer, Lilly, Roche) are partnering Singapore’s nationwide research network that integrates the country’s multidisciplinary scientific and clinical capabilities. In addition, medical technology companies (e.g. 3M, AB Sciex, Hill-Rom, Welch Allyn) are tapping into Singapore’s scientific and engineering capabilities to carry out value engineering and develop cost-effective products that can address Asia’s healthcare needs. More than 4,300 researchers are carrying out biomedical sciences R&D in 50 companies and 30 public-sector institutes that expend more than S$1 billion each year in R&D.

“Singapore is committed to be in time for the future and is working with companies to create value, especially as biomedical sciences companies seek to optimize their global manufacturing operations while harnessing Asia’s fast-growing markets. These par tnersh ips include EDB’s collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to build up capabilities and develop solutions in sustainable manufacturing, and local suppliers’ partnerships with MNCs to enhance their capabilities under EDB’s new Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT) program,” added Mr Beh.

“The biomedical sciences sector provides exciting and meaningful jobs in a broad spectrum of activities across manufacturing, R&D and business management in headquarters for Singaporeans across all education levels. It is an opportunity for Singaporeans to participate in shaping the future of human healthcare,” added Mr Ho.

Singapore and Sweden Institutes Ink Research Collaboration on Environmental Technologies

The S ingapore In s t i tu t e o f M a n u f a c t u r i n g Te c h n o l o g y (SIMTech), a research institute o f the Agency fo r Sc i ence, Technology and Research (A*STAR), announced a collaboration with Sweden’s Linkoping University to pursue research on environmental t e c h n o l o g i e s f o c u s i n g o n remanufacturing, clean production technology processes and industrial symbiosis.

These three research areas represent the current research focus and strengths of the two parties. These technologies are promising to minimize the environmental impacts of the manufacturing industry and at the same time, increase value-add and reduce costs.

The collaboration will facilitate the sharing of research expertise from both institutes in joint academic meetings, symposia, exchange of students and senior researchers as well as research projects to advance the development, implementation and commercialization of environmental technologies which are broadly defined as technologies that reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and waste in manufacturing.

Remanufacturing transforms end-of-life products into new components or products, saving a b o u t 8 5 % l e s s e m b o d i e d energy in production. The global remanufacturing industry has generated more than US$53 billion in annual sales and is considered a market with major potential. Remanufactured products can be commonly found in consumer, industrial, automotive and medical industries amongst others. It is


Bioboard

and some doctors are planning to use it with their patients.

The eight items in the test will give a framework for discussions between doctors and their patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a spectrum of lung ailments causing breathing difficulties and at the root of about 5,000 hospital cases a year.

The COPD Assessment Test, or CAT for short, can also be used to track the progress of the illness in a patient if test scores are compared over time. Patients taking the test must respond to eight pairs of statements, which include: I am confident leaving my home despite my lung condition/I am not at all confident leaving my home because of my lung condition, and I never cough/I cough all the time. They rate each pair of statements on a five-point scale; the higher a patient’s total score, the more serious his condition, and the more he needs specialist care. A patient who scores a high 35 out of a possible 40 is probably someone whose condition stops him from doing simple activities. Even walking would cause breathlessness.

The CAT was launched before an audience of 120 respiratory specialists, general practitioners and nurses. Professor Paul Jones, who heads the division of clinical science at St George’s University of London which developed the test, explained that CAT is not a diagnostic tool, but a way of forming an overall picture of the impact of COPD on the patient.

No other test practical enough for daily use does this now. A number of other lung-function tests - including those not comprehensive enough to use on their own and some too complicated to administer - are still required to confirm a diagnosis of COPD, he added. He pointed out

one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly production processes. In remanufacturing, worn, defective or discarded products are disassembled in a manufacturing environment. All components are cleaned, checked, brought up to specification or replaced where applicable. When the product is reassembled and tested, it is close to its original condition, performing as new or even upgraded with the latest technology when possible.

Industrial Symbiosis is a subset of industrial ecology, with a focus on sharing information, services and by-product resources among industrial entities or industries with the aim to add value, reduce costs and improve the environment. Industrial symbioses are created to achieve economic and environmental efficiencies as well as competitive advantage for the parties involved, and the concept is currently being applied in some parts of the world.

Clean production refers to the application of integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes and products to reduce risks to the environment. Largely preventive, cleaner production processes aim to minimize emissions and waste. This might involve processes that eliminate or reduce emissions of toxicity and GHG of a product during manufacturing stages. Clean production also minimizes the use of raw materials and energy.

Technology advancements in environmental technologies are al igned to the Singapore government’s long term vision to help build a greener, more energy efficient and sustainable nation. The government committed US$ 692 million (S$ 1 billion) in April 2009 to implement Singapore’s blueprint for sustainable development to create

new technologies and alternative sources of energy.

Said Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director of SIMTech, “We are excited about the partnership as we can tap on the vast experience and track records of Linkoping University in environment technologies to complement and strengthen our re sea rch in su s ta inab le manufacturing. This is also timely as sustainable manufacturing is the theme of our Annual Manufacturing Forum and we will intensify our industry development effort in this area. This collaboration will certainly help to accelerate the development, implementation, and commercialization of sustainable manufacturing technologies for the industry.”

Said Professor Mille Millnert, rector of Linköping University: “ S e e k i n g h i g h l y q u a l i f i e d international partners is for us a key to the continued development of excellence in strategic areas such as environmental technologies and industrial ecology. We look forward to develop our cooperation with SIMTech and learn from their vast industrial expertise. Together we can push the frontiers of sustainable manufacturing. This collaboration is an extension of our research alliance with the Golisano Institute for Sustainability of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA, signed in 2009 to provide a comprehensive and integrated spec t rum o f env i ronmenta l technologies for the industry.”

Simple Test for Lung Patients

A n e w, s e l f - a d m i n i s t e r e d questionnaire which measures the impact of a group of lung diseases on a patient is available in Singapore,


Bioboard

however, that CAT would come in handy, given that COPD is under-managed worldwide, partly because of difficulties in describing and assessing its full impact. Patients get used to their symptoms over time and so understate the severity of their disease when asked, he added.

A test like spirometry, which measures how fast and how much air one can blow out of one’s lungs, looks only at specific aspects of the disease, such as breathlessness. Another test, the St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire, has 50 questions, making it too complex to be used in daily practice.

There is no cure for COPD, which came in at No. 8 on the list of leading causes of death in Singapore in 2008. A Health Ministry spokesman said it does not regulate the use of tests such as CAT and advised doctors who wish to use such instruments to understand how it was developed.

The heads of departments for respiratory medicine in the public hospitals here say they are open to using CAT in their patient assessments, though they will not make it compulsory in their clinics now. Dr Augustine Tee, a consultant in respiratory medicine in Changi General Hospital, did a pilot test with CAT on 50 patients this year. Patients told him they found the questions comprehensive, although some needed help in completing the test because of language and cultural differences. The test, available only in English and Chinese now, is being translated into other languages.

Prof Jones explained that the CAT could, however, turn out less than useful in those patients who have other conditions like heart failure. It is also not totally comprehensive as patients’ lives can be affected in more ways than those

listed on the test.

TAIwAN

Taiwan, Japan Entities Team up on Research

A research institute and a hospital in Taiwan struck a pact with a Japanese institute to collaborate on boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) technology for the treatment of cancer.

T h e c o l l a b o ra t i v e w o r k among Taiwan’s National Tsing Hua University and Taipei Veterans General Hospital and Japan’s Kyoto University on the cutting-edge technology will be carried out at the Tsing Hua Open-pool Reactor (THOR).

Sang-hue Yen, director of Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s Cancer Center, said at a news conference to mark the agreement that the ideal cancer treatment would be one that selectively destroys all tumor cells without damaging normal tissue.

“Boron neutron capture therapy is such a treatment,” Yen said. He said Taipei Veterans General Hospital and Tsing Hua University have agreed to work on a joint research project on clinical treatment for head and neck cancers. The project has been approved by the Department of Health and has gained the support

of Mackay Memorial Hospital in Hsinchu, he added.

“We hope our patients will be able to receive NBCT treatment at Tsinghua University’s Nuclear Science and Technology Development Center (NSTDC) in the future,” Yen said.

Meanwhile, NSTDC Director Chou Fong-in said THOR is one of the most important nuclear research facilities in Taiwan. The center began to use THOR in nuclear medicine 12 years ago and has added BNCT treatment and peripheral facilities over the last three years, Chou added.

Taiwan’s Tsing Hua University is one of only eight in the world that have BNCT facilities, while Kyoto University’s BNCT techniques in the treatment of head and neck cancers are world renowned, according to Chou. “The use of BNCT in THOR will incorporate Taipei Veterans Hospital’s experience and expertise in cancer treatment and Kyoto University’s well-developed techniques in BNCT clinical treatment,” Chou said. “We look forward to seeing the launch of BNCT clinical trials in Taiwan soon and its application to the treatment of other kinds of cancer as well.”

BNCT is an experimental form of radiotherapy that uses a neutron beam which interacts with boron injected into a patient. The advantage of this technique is that the radiation damage occurs over a short range and thus spares normal tissues. BNCT has been tested experimentally primarily as an alternative treatment for malignant brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme and for recurrent, locally advanced cancers of the head and neck.

1� ■ Volume 14 > Number 4 > 2010 www.asiabiotech.com

Bioboard

VIETNAM

HCM City Public Hospitals Run Out of Recognized Vaccines

Many brand-name vaccines not covered by the national immunization program have run out at public hospitals in HCM City despite warnings from suppliers of shortages as early as September last year.

According to Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, vaccines provided by the national expanded immunization program were not in shortage but the more expensive brand name vaccines for the same diseases.

The city’s Pasteur Institute published a list of vaccines for diphtheria, whooping-cough, tetanus and paralysis produced by Sanofi-Aventis and Glaxo Smith and Kline, that were in short supply. The HCM City’s Paediatrics Hospital No 2 announced similar supply shortages after they ran out of Japanese encephalitis, meningo-encephalitis A + C, measles and rubella vaccines. Paediatrics Hospital No 1 also reported they had exhausted their supplies of Meningo-encephalitis A + C and typhoid vaccines.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Examination Unit of Pasteur Institute, said vaccine suppliers had informed the institute last September of supply shortages. The current shortage was particularly problematic, said Tuan, since substitutes were not available and suppliers maintained a monopoly on distribution. According to Tuan, problems with importation procedures have prevented companies from successfully importing the vaccines. Asked when the problem

would be settled, Tuan replied he had no idea when suppliers would be able to deliver the vaccines. Meanwhile, children at the Pasteur Institute continued to be turned away for vaccinations.

To respond to the shortage, Nguyen Viet Hung from the Ministry of Health’s Department of Pharmaceutical Management has ordered the city’s Department of Health to source suppliers for the vaccines in shortage.

Director of the department Truong Quoc Cuong, pinned the blame on procedures that required health clinics to wait until patients requested vaccinations before purchases could be made. The Pasteur Institute administers more than 200 vaccinations everyday, while during the peak of epidemic seasons, the number can be up to five times higher. Average vaccinations at Paediatrics Hospital No 2 total 100 per day.

NORTH AMERICA

Researchers Seek Funding to Study How Climate Change Influenced Human Evolution

Researchers have often proposed that dramatic changes in ancient climates triggered major events in human evolution, such as the emergence of a new species or migrations of our ancestors in and out of Africa. But it has been notoriously difficult to tie deep-sea records of global climate fluctuations to local fossil sites in Africa and, hence, to specific fossils of human ancestors. Now, a new report released by the National Research Council recommends a major new interdisciplinary research program to study how past climate influenced

human evolution.In the report, an interdisciplinary

team of paleoanthropologists and geologists recommended four new research initiatives over the next 10 to 20 years. The first is to launch a major effort to locate new fossil sites using remote-sensing tools and traditional ground methods to survey new terrain. The point is to fill in key gaps in the fossil record, such as when new species first appear and disappear, to see if there are links between these major events in human evolution and changes in the climate.

The researchers also called for a comprehensive program to drill ancient lakebeds and lakes on land, as well as in ocean basins, in the regions where humans evolved in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia and Kenya, for example. This would help provide a record of climate changes in the local areas where human ancestors actually lived, given that the climate can vary dramatically in different parts of Africa. It would be part of a larger effort to reconstruct past environments in local habitats where fossils have been found.

The researchers also proposed that funding agencies make a major investment in research to model local and regional climates during key times in human evolution. Finally, they are also seeking funds to educate the public about how climate change influenced human evolution.

EUROPE

A Blood Test to Detect Breast Cancer

In what’s being claimed as a major breakthrough, scientists have developed a simple blood test to detect breast cancer in women.


Bioboard

Normal breast screening checks, using Xray mammograms, detect a tumor only once it is three or four times bigger, by which time it may have started to spread beyond breast. But, this test can pick up a cancer the size of a small seed before a woman has developed any symptoms.

Developed by the scientists, led by Norwegian company Diagenic ASA, the test looks for raised levels of chemical “markers” for cancer picked up as blood flows through tumors. So far it has proved 75 percent effective at detecting early cancer in a number of small trials, say the scientists.

Dr James Mackay, an oncologist and researcher at University College London, is helping to launch the blood test for private patients. “This test will be particularly useful for younger women who are at risk of developing breast cancer. They tend to have denser breasts which mammograms cannot easily penetrate. We are suggesting they have a mammogram and combine it with this test so that there is a greater chance of detection,” he said.

Women shown by the test to have cancer will be given an MRI scan so that the tumor can be located, checked and, if necessary, removed, according to the scientists. Cancer doctors believe that blood testing for early breast cancer could become routine in five years. The Diagenic BCtect test is currently being evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and an National Health Service trial involving 6,000 women at high risk of developing breast cancer is to start next year. ■

bioboard · ivf clinic develops improved screening an australian ivf clinic has developed a...

Documents