Posted by jrbecker on May 14, 2003, at 13:34:45
http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/05/07/rtr963438.html
ROCHE PLANS SIX NEW GENE CHIP TESTS BY END-2004
Reuters, 05.07.03, 8:19 AM
By Michael Shields
BASEL, Switzerland, May 7 (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG intends to roll out six "gene chip" tests over the next 18 months that can help diagnose how patients respond to certain drugs, detect viruses or expose a risk of developing cancer, the company said on Wednesday.
The tests, developed with technology licensed from U.S-based Affymetrix (nasdaq: AFFX - news - people), are the first generation of products Roche hopes will cement its role as the world's leading diagnostics firm by giving doctors and patients information they can use to prevent or treat illnesses.
The CYP450 chip to be launched this quarter determines a patient's metabolic status as a way to prescribe the right drug at the right dosage. Roche estimates it will have peak annual sales of around 100 million Swiss francs ($75.24 million) in five years.
At a presentation on the diagnostics business, division head Heino von Prondzynski said other tests to follow by the end of 2004 could help in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, cervical cancer, colon-rectal cancer and HIV.
"They all will not be big revenue drivers yet, but they prove the new technology is doable and will be successful over years to come," he said.
The big new gene chip test will be for leukaemia and is set to arrive in 2006, he said. This will replace five or six other technologies now used to test for the cancer.
Roche held out a vision that the CYP450 test could one day be used to screen all newborns and to indicate, for example, whether to ever use a certain cardiovascular Drug or antidepressant.
This could help avoid mistreatment, he said, noting that adverse drug reactions were still the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
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