LONDON (Alliance News) - Epistem Holdings PLC said Tuesday an independent clinical trial of its Genedrive point-of-care human genotyping test has successfully completed, showing 100% accuracy in detecting inherited genetic polymorphisms in hepatitis patients.
The Genedrive product was compared to the current "gold-standard" laboratory test, which uses pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG's TaqMan PCR product, against which it showed 100% accuracy, Epistem said.
The Genedrive product produces results in 50 minutes from a cheek swab, compared to the standard approach which uses a blood sample and can have a service lab return time of two to three weeks, Epistem added.
The trial was conducted by teams from the Institut Pasteur and Hopital Cochin in Paris, and involved 246 hepatitis patients of different stages and genotypes.
"As medicine becomes more personalised, there is an increasing need to detect genetic differences in patients. We have efficiently demonstrated Genedrive's ability to undertake rapid genotyping in a simple manner. This performance study allows us to initiate opportunities for collaboration with pharmaceutical partners in developing companion diagnostic tests for drug development and patient stratification," said Epistem Chief Executive David Budd.
Shares in Epistem were up 5.3% at 94.80 pence on Tuesday.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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