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Roche Diagnostics launches campaign to promote widest panel of assays on an automated serum work area platform
As concerns are raised about the expense of treatments for chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and kidney disease and for infectious diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV, Roche Diagnostics launches a nationwide promotion of its 183-strong panel of high sensitivity assays, designed to provide the best possible test accuracy and efficiency for improved patient care.
The campaign focuses on three key disease areas:
Osteoporosis
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), osteoporosis is second only to cardiovascular disease as a global health problem. The incidence of osteoporosis is set to increase with the ageing of the population and in the UK one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 will break a bone mainly because of poor bone health1.
The new and comprehensive range of Roche Elecsys ® bone marker assays are set to help make a major impact on the way in which osteoporosis is treated in the UK. Now with this detailed test, the consultant can gain an holistic overview of a patient's bone status giving clear guidance on the most appropriate treatment with the lowest level of side-effects.
Chronic Kidney Disorder
Chronic kidney disorder effects one in 10 people aged 55-64, and one in two of those aged 75 or over2 . Having chronic kidney disorder puts the individual at an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, and therefore rapid diagnosis and treatment is critical.
The Roche Creatinine Plus enzymatic creatinine assay, is a highly reliable test used on patients with chronic kidney disease. It is designed to give extreme test accuracy in the monitoring of pre- and post-transplant patients. Amongst the many users are St Thomas' Hospital London, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust. With each hospital performing over 30,000 tests every month, the assay provides a more accurate assessment of renal function and has already enabled improved patient care.3
Infectious Disease
Infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B and C and HIV remain at higher levels than the 1990s4 . The Roche Serology portfolio offers the widest range of assays for detecting infectious diseases including Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV. The latest components in this portfolio are the cobas Anti HCV, a rapid and sensitive screening assay for detecting antibodies of the Hepatitis C virus. This allows for diagnosis in early stages of HCV, and other assays in the portfolio are used in the detection of Rubella and Syphilis.
Roche's ground-breaking 183- strong assay portfolio which is available on an automated serum work area platform represents state-of-the-art laboratory testing in the UK. The tests provide consultants with the most accurate information available for making treatment decisions whilst increasing consolidation opportunities and improving testing efficiencies.
Ian Parfrement, Roche Diagnostics HIVD Director UK and Ireland said: "The release of these new assays to the Hospital in vitro diagnostic market demonstrates Roche's continued commitment to innovation and is an integral part of Roche's overall strategy in diagnostics for providing information of real value to healthcare professionals. Not only are we aiming to push test accuracy to its boundaries, we aim to help managers in hospitals make the most effective use of limited diagnostic budgets. We have had huge interest in the campaign from customers all over the UK."
For further information contact the Roche Centralised Diagnostic team on 01444 256000.
References:
1 National Osteoporosis Society
2 National Kidney Federation
3 “The Creatinine plus assay enabled us to use the newer MDRD eGFR equation directly since this was generated using the Roche enzymatic assay,” comments Service Director, Dr Steve Smith. “Creatinine Plus is easier to handle on our Roche MODULAR platform since our previous method was run as an open channel chemistry. Also, being more specific, we get a more accurate picture of a patient's creatinine level, particularly at lower levels where non creatinine chromogens interfere disproportionately with the older Jaffé assay. This is particularly important since we receive a large number of samples from both paediatric and renal patients, for whom there can be significant interference using Jaffé methods.”
4 The Health Protection Agency
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients.
In 2008, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested almost 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 45.6 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.
For more information: www.roche.com.
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are legally protected by law.
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