Alliance to Develop Test for Mad Cow Disease

Under a recently formed collaboration, a new microplate test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, will be manufactured by Pierce Chemical Company (Rockford, IL, USA), utilizing the expertise of Prionics AG (Zurich, Switzerland) in prion diagnostics and Pierce's expertise in assay development and immunoassay production. Pierce is a subsidiary of Sweden-based Perbio Science AB.

"Being headquartered in Sweden, we're extremely sensitive to the European Union (EU) need for a quicker, higher capacity test for mad cow disease. This is especially important because the EU has mandated BSE testing of beef livestock over 30 months of age. Based on industry estimates, approximately nine million cattle will need to be tested this year,” noted Mats Fischier, president and CEO of Perbio Science.

Under an agreement signed with Roche Diagnostics, Roche Molecular Biochemicals distributes Prionics kits in most countries throughout the world. Thus, Pierce, Prionics, and BSE testing laboratories will be assured of global distribution and strong technical support, according to Pierce. The new test kit is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2001.




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