Firm patents first 'mad cow' blood test

A British biotech firm says it has won the world's first patent for a test to detect mad cow disease in blood, and hopes to launch the diagnostic kit in a year.

Proteome Sciences said its test, now covered by an Australian patent, could be used to screen national blood banks for CJD as well as to diagnose the disease in individuals and animals.

At present, the only definitive way to detect mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and its human version, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), is by analysing brain samples after death.

A simple blood test would allow doctors to confirm the disease in patients showing symptoms and let vets monitor the condition in animals before slaughter.

Several biotech companies are chasing the goal of a blood test, but Christopher Pearce, chief executive of Surrey-based Proteome, believes it is in the lead.

"This is the first time there have been any patents issued in relation to the detection of variant CJD and BSE in blood.

"Australia happens to be the first patent to come out. Patents applications in Europe and the US are also well under way.

"We are now actively talking to prospective partners who will bring commercial tests to the marketplace in 12 to 18 months," he said.

The test works by detecting changes in prion proteins that occur in human and animal victims of the diseases.

Swiss company Serono, which has developed a novel way of amplifying prions to make them easier to detect, is also working on a diagnostic test and hopes to find a licensing partner in the first half of this year.

There have been more than 100 cases of CJD worldwide, nearly all of them in Britain.

- REUTERS

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