Spectral Diagnostics Inc. has obtained an exclusive license to cDNAclones coding for human cardiac Troponin I from the Johns HopkinsUniversity School of Medicine. Spectral had the option to acquire thecDNA clones under a February 1993 agreement with the university.

Spectral of Toronto announced Tuesday that it will use the cDNAclones in manufacturing scale-up quantities of recombinant TroponinI, a cardiac protein, for use in a second-generation cardiac prognostic.Spectral's president, Douglas Ball, said Troponin I is released whenthe heart is under stress, and to the extent it can be measured in theblood, one can diagnose whether or not chest pain is of cardiac origin.

The company's cardiac panel tests for four cardiac proteins -- CK-MB,Myoglobin, Myosin Light Chains and Troponin I -- to distinguishbetween cardiac and non-cardiac chest pain and tell unstable anginafrom a myocardial infarction. Spectral (NASDAQ:DIAGF) expects tomarket a second-generation cardiac prognostics test and cardiacspecific markers in 1994.

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