Press Releases

CANADA VENTURE: SQI Diagnostics' Autoimmune Ambitions

Released: Nov 05, 2008

Source: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
By: Brian Truscott

VANCOUVER (Dow Jones)--SQI Diagnostics Inc. (SQD.V) has recently submitted Federal Drug Administration 510K and Health Canada medical-license filings for clearance to market its two patented automated diagnostic platforms.

"In our part of the diagnostics industry - and there are all kinds of tests, obviously - we're focused on tests done on the blood," said Chief Financial Officer Andrew Morris. "And we have focused specifically on autoimmune diseases, which is one sub-set of the blood-testing market."

Autoimmune disease is an illness that occurs when the body tissues are attacked by its own immune system. Key examples: rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile (type 1) diabetes, Addison disease, Crohn's disease and lupus.

What SQI Diagnostics is offering is a faster and more-efficient and cost-effective way to test for those diseases.

Here's how the company describes itself: SQI Diagnostics is a diagnostic-systems company focused on developing and launching an automated, multiplex immunoassay platform serving the human healthcare market.

The company is initially focused on the autoimmune-disease-testing segment and is expected to advance its technology into other markets, including infectious-disease detection and allergen screening.

The SQiDworks automated platform and the QuantiSpot consumable microarray have the potential to significantly reduce processing time and labor, thereby reducing overall laboratory test costs by up to 40%.

And that's where the FDA and Health Canada come in - approval to market the systems to the healthcare industry.

Blood Testing Big Business

Morris said this part of the market it's initially aiming for is worth about US$1.5 billion in terms of total revenue.

While the company will initially focus on rheumatoid arthritis - regulatory data have already been filed - the company ultimately plans to go after the top 10 autoimmune diseases.

President and Chief Executive Claude Ricks stressed that the company isn't a rheumatoid arthritis business but an autoimmune-assay business that will evolve over time as it expands its reach - and into markets where the revenue streams are exponentially larger.

"The point here is that the top 10 autoimmune diseases touch all demographics in the market; you don't have to be in the industry to know that, for example, irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerance span from old people to young people," Morris said.

He said the primary benefit for customers and, ultimately, clinicians, is that SQI is testing for multiple blood markers within a single test effort versus multiple tests being done on the same blood sample. Then it becomes a process of marker elimination to come to a diagnosis.

Simply put, a blood marker is a sign of a disease or condition that can be isolated from a blood sample.

"Right now, it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of effort for every one of these little blood markers you're looking to find," Morris said. "What we do is take those multiple tests, we miniaturize it, and we do all the required tests at one time for one patient."

At the same time, the tests are done on an automated, robotic platform, he said. "This also takes out some of the error that occurs, which means fewer test repeats - and, again, that reduces costs," Morris said.

The other angle here is that the bigger labs in the world have gone through a lot of consolidation, with many of the smaller labs being integrated. Now that this has happened, the labs need to look for other ways to increase earnings. And one of the ways is to reduce labor. This can be done through automation and other forms of efficiencies such as using one test to find multiple markers.

And that's why SQI Diagnostics' automated systems may soon play a key part in the lab.

Company Web Site: http://www.sqidiagnostics.com

-Brian Truscott, Dow Jones Newswires; 604-669-1595; brian.truscott@dowjones.com