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Microbix Assisting EMQN with Second Genetic-Test EQA Program
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario and MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Sept. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --...
About this update from Microbix Biosystems Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Microbix Assisting EMQN with Second Genetic-Test EQA ProgramHelping Ensure Appropriate Dosing of Widely-Used Anti-Clotting Drugs\n\n\n\n MISSISSAUGA, Ontario and MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, Sept. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (\n \n TSX: MBX, OTCQX: MBXBF, Microbix\n \n ®\n \n\n ), a life sciences innovator, manufacturer, and exporter, and EMQN CIC (\n \n EMQN\n \n ), a global supplier of laboratory external quality assessment (“\n \n EQA\n \n ”) schemes for human genomic testing, announce the go-live of a program to support rapid and accurate identification of patients who carry gene-variants associated with faster and slower than normal metabolism of the widely-prescribed antiplatelet (anti-clotting) drug Clopidogrel (brand named Plavix\n \n ®\n \n ).\n \n\n This novel EQA program is to help ensure the proficiency of sites performing Point-of-Care Tests (“\n \n POCTs\n \n ”) that detect if patients carry any of three clinically-relevant variants of the Cytochrome P450 CYP2C19 liver enzyme gene (\n \n i.e.\n \n , *2 or *3 loss-of-function, or *17 enhanced-function). Over 20% of persons carry these gene variants that can lead to over-dosing or under-dosing. Patients with genes relating to slower metabolic clearance can be over-dosed, increasing the risk of life-threatening internal bleeding. In turn, those genes relating to faster metabolic clearance can be under-dosed, reducing effectiveness and putting them at risk of life-threatening blood clots. As treatment decisions must often be made rapidly, POCT-based genotyping is critical to guide appropriate antiplatelet dosing in a time-sensitive clinical window.\n \n\n Antiplatelet drugs are commonly prescribed to persons deemed at-risk of heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, peripheral arterial occlusions, or atrial fibrillation. It is estimated that over 15 million prescriptions for Clopidogrel are written in the United States each year. All such patients in the U.S., UK, Canada, and globally, can benefit from pharmacogenomic POCTs to assess their rate of drug metabolism – to reduce their risk of harm as a result of excessive or inadequate drug therapy.\n \n\n Microbix-produced quality assessment products (“\n \n QAPs\n \n ™”), formatted onto Copan\n \n &...