Alere launches pre-eclampsia test in Europe and Australia
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The Alere Triage PLGF test, which is designed to detect early-onset pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, is now available in Europe and Australia. Pre-eclampsia involves hypertension and protein in the urine and is a leading cause of maternal and foetal death worldwide. Traditional diagnosis using blood pressure and urine protein level measurements is non-specific, and these symptoms are not always present in women who develop serious complications. Measuring placental growth factor (PLGF) could provide a more sensitive and specific method of detecting the condition, as low maternal plasma levels have been linked with pre-eclampsia. Alere’s PLGF test, which it CE marked in September 2009, runs on the firm’s Triage MeterPro and provides results within 15 minutes. PerkinElmer also markets a pre-eclampsia test in Europe, called the DELFIA Xpress PlGF Assay, which it launched there in October (www.clinica.co.uk, 29 October 2010). No head-to-head studies of Alere's and PerkinElmer's test have been carried out, but Alere told Clinica: "Compared to other new tests, the Triage PLGF assay does not require an expensive analyser and can potentially be performed in a point-of-care setting."