• BodyTel Scientific (Henderson Nevada), reported that it has completed the first production run of the GlucoTel Meter which will be used for upcoming clinical studies and premarketing initiatives. The GlucoTel Meter is a glucose monitoring. The meter is part of the GlucoTel system, which is a complete telemedical diabetes self-management system supporting patients and doctors in the treatment of diabetes and its secondary complications. The GlucoTel blood glucose meter collects blood sugar readings and sends them to the patient’s mobile phone via Bluetooth. Afterwards, the data is automatically sent to a secure Internet database via SMS and is centrally held there long-term. GlucoTel enables involvement of the patients in the treatment of diabetes, and thereby improves the information basis and communication between doctor and patient and thus contributes to the course of therapy. BodyTel Scientific is a company focused on the development of innovative wireless health monitoring products.

• Neoprobe (Dublin, Ohio) reported favorable results from a multi-center Phase II clinical study of its lead clinical candidate, Lymphoseek. Lymphoseek is a proprietary radioactive targeting agent being developed for use with handheld gamma detection devices, such as Neoprobe’s neo2000system, in a surgical procedure known as Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy. This study is being conducted at five of the leading cancer centers in the U.S.: John Wayne Cancer Center; M.D. Anderson, the University of California, San Francisco; University Hospitals — Cleveland (Case Western Reserve); and the University of Louisville. Neoprobe is a biomedical company.

• Roche Diagnostics (RotKruez, Switzerland) reported that a study published in Circulation demonstrates the effective use of NT-proBNP, a blood test that allows the identification and exclusion of heart failure by measuring the level of NT-proBNP in a patient’s blood The multi-center, randomized-controlled trial conducted on 500 patients in seven hospitals, shows that NT-proBNP (N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide) guided strategy in the management of suspected acute HF in the emergency department (ED) reduced the duration of emergency department (ED) visits by 21 percent), numbers of patients re-hospitalized over 60 days by 35 percent and direct medical costs of all ED visits, hospitalisations and subsequent outpatient services by 15 percent.In addition, monitoring levels of NT-proBNP can be used to guide drug treatment and in turn reduce the total number of cardiovascular events with clinically guided treatment(5). NT-proBNP is approved by the FDA and recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), for instance, as an aid in the diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) and assessing its severity and the detection of mild forms of cardiac dysfunction. Roche Diagnostics provides testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide.