WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII) announced today that Alan Remaley, MD., Ph.D., Director of the Immunoassay Section of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), presented data at last week's American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting in San Francisco on novel studies in which BBI's proprietary Pressure Cycling Technology (PCT) was used to reduce the potential for laboratory acquired infections.
Despite the use of extensive precautions in handling infectious specimens, the potential exposure to infectious agents remains a major concern for laboratory workers. Toward this end, BBI scientists, in collaboration with Dr. Remaley and his associates at NIH's Clinical Center, examined the feasibility of using PCT to inactivate pathogens in patient specimens prior to testing.
Results of these studies suggest that PCT may provide an effective and practical approach for reducing the potentially infectious nature of serum specimens without adversely affecting subsequent laboratory testing results. The presentation by Dr. Remaley showed that PCT treatment conditions effectively reduce the infectivity of HIV up to a million fold, but do not have a detrimental effect on many of the commonly measured blood proteins. Although a number of proteins showed excellent stability at high pressure, certain complex enzymes, such as lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase, were adversely affected. Studies currently in progress are aimed at developing PCT treatment protocols that will not significantly affect the results of standard clinical laboratory tests but will inactivate potential viral and bacterial pathogens in serum samples prior to specimen handling by laboratory workers.
"Even with current limitations, PCT may be a viable approach for reducing the risk of laboratory-acquired infections, particularly when testing samples from patients infected with highly contagious and dangerous class 3 and 4 pathogens," said Dr. Remaley, the senior staff member in charge of the NIH Clinical Laboratory Immunoassay section and author of the presentation.
"This presentation constitutes the first publication of data derived from an outside collaborator in Boston Biomedica's PCT program, and we are very pleased to have Dr. Remaley and his colleagues at NIH working with us on this very exciting project," said Dr. Mark Manak, Senior Vice President of Boston Biomedica and Technical Director of the PCT Program.
Pressure Cycling Technology is one of two major areas of research and development in Boston Biomedica's advanced technology program. The Company acquired PCT in late 1998 and began at once to actively explore its potential commercial applications, while concomitantly establishing the infrastructure required to take full advantage of opportunities for implementation. Potential applications, in addition to the pre-treatment of clinical samples prior to testing to protect lab workers, include the use of PCT for inactivation of pathogens in human plasma, sample preparation for nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) testing, food safety, and genomics - such as nucleic acid sequence analysis.
Boston Biomedica, Inc. provides products and services for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases (ID) such as AIDS, Lyme Disease, and Viral Hepatitis. The Company has four business units: (1) BBI Diagnostics, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer and seller of quality control and other diagnostic products used to increase the accuracy of in-vitro diagnostic tests, (2) BBI Clinical Laboratories, a leading specialty infectious diseases testing laboratory, (3) BBI Biotech Research Laboratories, providing R&D support for the other BBI business units as well as contract research services for third parties, and (4) BBI Source Scientific, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of laboratory and diagnostic instrumentation. In addition, the Company is pursuing research and development programs in the areas of Pressure Cycling Technology (PCT) and drug discovery through its subsidiaries BBI BioSeq and Panacos Pharmaceuticals, respectively, with the goal of introducing new solutions for the detection and treatment of infectious diseases.
Statements contained in this news release that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are ``forward-looking'' statements. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Statements made by Dr. Remaley during his presentation and in this press release do not constitute an endorsement of BBI or PCT by the NIH. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include the possibility that BBI may not be successful in developing pressure cycling technology (PCT) into commercially successful products or services. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2000. Copies of these documents may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
Visit us at our website http://www.bbii.com
Please email us at IR@bbii.com if you prefer to receive future
announcements electronically
SOURCE Boston Biomedica, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.bbii.com
CONTACT: Richard T. Schumacher, CEO and Chairman, or William R. Prather, M.D., Sr. VP Finance & Business Dvlp. of Boston Biomedica, Inc., 508-580-1900
