| March 18th, 1999 |
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Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd. has concluded a license agreement to introduce diagnostic kits for Alzheimer's Disease from Synapse Technologies Inc. in Canada |
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Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd. (President: Tetsuo Oka) has concluded an agreement to develop and market diagnostic kits for Alzheimer's Disease in Japan with Synapse Technologies Inc. in Canada. Alzheimer Disease is characterized by symptoms of dementia and results in cerebral atrophy; its direct cause is not clear, making the development of treatment difficulty. Alzheimer's disease is currently diagnosed mainly by cognitive tests. Despite research into genetic makers, and proteins present in cerebrospinal fluid, their use is still complicated. In 1996, Professor Jeffrey (University of British Colombia, Canada) discovered that the protein "P97" occurs in greater concentration in patients with Alzheimer's disease. His studies showed that the level of p97 in sample of blood drawn from a patient can be a good measure of the presence of Alzheimer's disease. Diagnosis of this disease in future will become simpler and more certain by combining cognitive testing with the use of an ELISA test (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) to measure the concentration of p97 in a small sample of patient's blood. Earlier diagnosis will contribute to improvement in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, by permitting treatment to be started earlier. The number of Alzheimer's disease patients in Japan is estimated to be between 600,000 and 700,000. The incidence is expected to increase as the proportion of older persons in society increase. Kyowa Medex expects that it will take four or five years to develop this kit for sale, but the company's R&D department for in vitro M.D. continues to be oriented towards diagnostics for serious and incurable disease. . <Outline of Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd.> Kyowa Medex Co., Ltd. (President: Tetsuo Oka) is a company which became independent of the diagnostics department of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. (President: Tadashi Hirata), and was established in 1981 as 100% owned subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo. The company manufactures and markets biochemical diagnostic reagents, immunodiagnostic kits using monoclonal antibodies, and ME devices, etc. <Outline of Synapse Technologies Inc.> Synapse Technologies Inc. (President: Colin Mallet) is a venture biotechnology company, with Research Laboratories and offices on the campus of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The company is specializing in new technologies for drug delivery to the brain and identification of new drug targets in neurodegenerative disease. |
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