CORTECS TO TEST H PYLORI KIT IN JAPAN

Cortecs International has entered into a testing agreement with an unnamed Japanese company for its Helisal Rapid Saliva and Rapid Whole Blood Tests, with a view to entering into a distribution agreement for Japan. Cortecs entered into a similar arrangement for Europe with Boehringer Mannheim (Marketletter April 18). The Helisal tests are for doctors' surgeries and will enable diagnosis within a few minutes from a saliva sample or a drop of whole blood for the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

Cortecs notes that H pylori is now believed to be the most common cause of peptic ulcer, and at present some 35 million people a year, worldwide, are treated with antiulcer drugs, of whom about 70% are likely to be H pylori positive. The company adds that it has also been shown that on conventional therapy, the duodenal ulcer relapse rate is about 80% within one year and almost 100% within two years, but where H pylori has been eradicated, relapse rate is reduced to less than 5%.

Meantime, the companies involved in the antiulcerant market are developing combination products in order to eradicate H pylori at the same time as healing ulcers (Marketletters passim).