A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) said it has entered into a collaboration with Imperial College London and the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC) to discover the genetic variations associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The company said the agreement is part of its translational medicine program, an initiative designed to accelerate clinical research and improve patient care by helping to bring more effective personalized tests and therapies to market faster.

Researchers at Imperial College and the MRC will use Affymetrix’ GeneChip technology to perform genotyping and gene-expression experiments.

The company said the microarray technology would enable the researchers to test for genetic mutations and identify genes that are similarly expressed among a group of people who suffer from the same disease.

Physicians can then use the information to test other patients for these diseases, enabling them to diagnose and treat the disease early before irreversible symptoms develop.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that understanding the relationship between genes and human health is the key to future medical breakthroughs,” said Professor Stephen Smith, principal of the faculty of medicine at Imperial College. “This research alliance will enable us to combine our expertise with that of our partners to gain a much better understanding of a number of health problems and develop new treatments to tackle them.”

European radiology groups consolidate

Europe’s leading radiological organizations, the European Association of Radiology (EAR; Vienna, Austria) and the European Congress of Radiology (ECR; also Vienna), have founded the joint European Society of Radiology (ESR). Launch of the organization took place in Vienna earlier this month.

The consolidation creates a single house of radiology “to strengthen and unify European radiology and to ensure competitiveness compared to other radiological events and institutions,” ESR said in a statement.

Some of the primary aims of the organization are:

  • To organize the leading meeting in radiology by increasing the excellence of the annual European Congress of Radiology.
  • To improve efficiencies and avoid duplication of efforts.
  • To harmonize teaching programs throughout Europe to ensure easier movement of European radiologists and enable cross-pollination of knowledge and skills.
  • To establish a new research institute and to support major research initiatives.
  • To create a program of extending teaching resources outside Europe, with global e-learning initiatives to raise radiology standards in other countries.
  • To create public awareness campaigns concerning radiology and raise its position among other medical specialties.
  • To influence policy within the European Union.

The members of EAR are national radiological organizations and radiological subspecialty organizations; those of ECR are radiologists, physicists, radiographers and professionals of related disciplines. The ESR said it envisions individual European membership to enhance visibility of the annual ECR meeting and its educational activities.

SonoSite establishes office in India

SonoSite (Bothell, Washington), the leading company in the hand-carried ultrasound sector, said it has established a liaison office in New Delhi, India, to better support its distributors and growing base of customers in that country.

The company also has named Pavan Behl as country manager, with overall responsibility for India operations.

“The Indian healthcare market is one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing in the world and offers an excellent opportunity for [us],” said Graham Cox, SonoSite vice president, international. “With over 15,000 hospitals and 500,000 physicians, investment in healthcare delivery is expected to grow by 12% to 15% per year over the next five years, to $48 billion representing 7% of GDP.”

He added: “By opening a liaison office, we are establishing a direct presence for SonoSite in this market and will work closely with our Indian distributors to better understand and respond to our customers’ needs.”

Cox said Behl has previously held positions with Becton Dickinson, SpaceLabs Medical and Guava Technologies, “and has been responsible for successfully establishing and managing their direct operations.”

SonoSite began as a division of ATL Ultrasound, now part of Philips Medical Systems, and was spun off as a public company in 1998 to create hand-carried ultrasound devices that could be used at the point of patient care. The company has an installed base of more than 25,000 systems worldwide and has a distribution network in some 75 countries.

Zonda’s chlamydia test on sale in Norway

CLX Investment (Temecula, California) said its portfolio company, Zonda (Monrovia, California), is continuing shipments of its HandiLab-C test for chlamydia to European markets.

A shipment of the over-the-counter Chlamydia-C test was sent to the company’s distributor for Scandinavia in late November for delivery to pharmacies across Norway, with another shipment due to be sent later this month. Beginning in February, the distributor also will begin selling to pharmacies in Sweden.

Zonda said several shipments of the Chlamydia-C tests have also been made recently to a distributor in Austria.

Zonda’s product line also includes diagnostic tests for the detection of gonorrhea, yeast and Strep A, all of which have the CE mark for professional point-of-care use.

Tammy Dunn, CEO of CLX Investment, characterized Zonda’s presence at last month’s MEDICA conference in Dusseldorf, Germany, as “wildly successful,” saying it “continues to result in inquiries and requests for contracts from distributors in markets around the world.”

CLX holds a 20% interest in Zonda.