BOEH MANNHEIM TO TEST CORTECS' HELISAL

Under the terms of new agreements signed during the last few weeks, Boehringer Mannheim is to carry out testing of Cortecs International's new serum assay for Helicobacter pylori infection, called Helisal, and its doctors' office-based version Helisal Rapid Blood.

Helisal has already been launched by Cortecs in the UK and by a licensee in Canada. Boeh Mannheim will carry out testing of the product on behalf of Cortecs in approximately 4,000 patients in Japan and elsewhere. The company has also agreed to carry out comparative testing of Helisal Rapid Blood in 500 patients with gastric ulcer symptoms in Germany against current serum laboratory tests and biopsy.

Helisal is a serum laboratory test, while Helisal Rapid Blood is a quick test which doctors can carry out on a thumb prick blood sample, without the lengthy processing of the sample to produce serum. Helisal Rapid Blood will be launched in the UK in second-quarter 1994, according to Cortecs.