AspenBio developing blood test for appendicitis

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., Feb. 15 - AspenBio Pharma, Inc. said its U.S. and international patent applications entitled "Methods and devices for diagnosis of appendicitis" have been published by the U.S. Patent Office and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

AspenBio technology involves using a blood-based test to assist in diagnosing or ruling out appendicitis, according to a company news release.

The company said it has also recently filed a further separate patent application seeking to expand its worldwide position of intellectual property protection associated with this technology.

Current techniques used by emergency room doctors to diagnose patients complaining of stomach and abdominal pain are expensive, time consuming and can have error rates estimated at between 15% and 40%. According to the release, there is no known effective appendicitis diagnostic test available on the market.

Internal preliminary testing of the AspenBio test process, which has a patent pending, shows early promise as a highly accurate indicator of appendicitis, the company said.

Significant development and testing are required to determine the commercial product form that would be brought to market. Clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration approvals are also required.

"AspenBio's expertise in diagnostic development utilizing proteomics and genomics helped advance this test to the point where we are excited about the possibility of providing a blood test that cost-effectively and accurately assists emergency room personnel to quickly diagnose or rule out appendicitis in patients complaining of abdominal pain," Richard Donnelly, president and chief executive officer, said in the release.

AspenBio is an emerging biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of novel proprietary products. The company is located in Castle Rock, Colo.

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