Business
Research and Development Update
Research and Development Update.
About this update from Bioventix Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nBioventix develops novel antibody to Vitamin D, a key biological marker linked \n to multiple diseases \n\nFarnham, Surrey, UK, 01 December 2010 - Bioventix plc (BVXP) (\"Bioventix\" or\n\"the Company\"), a UK company that specialises in the development and commercial\nsupply of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies for applications in clinical\ndiagnostics, announces a significant breakthrough in the creation of a unique\nantibody to vitamin D. The new antibody, called vitD3.5H10, could have\nsignificant utility in the manufacture of tests designed to determine the\nvitamin D status of patients.\n\nVitamin D status is linked with increased risk of many chronic diseases\nincluding autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancers, type II\ndiabetes and infectious diseases. This new awareness of the importance of\nvitamin D to overall health and the consequences of vitamin D deficiency has\nstimulated rapid growth in the demand for vitamin D tests at hospitals and\nclinics. Consequently, antibodies for use in such diagnostic tests are highly\nsought after within the healthcare industry.\n\nThe complication for vitamin D tests is that there are two different forms of\nvitamin D, named D3 and D2, both of which are active. Vitamin D3 is derived\nwithin the body from exposure of the skin to sunlight whereas D2 is a yeast-\nand plant-derived product, available in supplements and fortified foods. There\nis broad agreement within the medical community that vitamin D tests must\nrecognise the two relevant forms of vitamin D equally.\n\nUsing its proprietary technology, Bioventix's team of antibody scientists has\ncreated an antibody called vitD3.5H10 that recognises both relevant forms of\nvitamin D with equal and high affinity. The Directors believe that there is\nconsiderable commercial potential for this antibody given the rarity of the\nproperties of vitD3.5H10 and the significant degree of difficulty in creating\nsuch an antibody. Commercial scale manufacture has already started and\nevaluation studies using prototype tests based on vitD3.5H10 are being\nconducted at a number of key Bioventix customers.\n\nBioventix's customers are the large multinational diagnostics companies that\nsupply blood testing equipment to hospitals around the world. Amongst the\ncompanies that operate in this field are Roche Diagnostics, Siemens Hea...