Progenika continues international expansion with move into Kuwait

Online, June 1, 2010 (Newswire.com) - May 31, 2010 - The Spanish personalized medicine company, PROGENIKA, is pursuing its strong international expansion and has recently set up its innovative technology in Kuwait. Due to this, the National Blood Bank of Kuwait, the most important blood bank in the country, is now equipped with cutting-edge technology to ensure compatibility between donor and receiver in blood transfusions.

This means PROGENIKA has become the first Spanish personalized medicine company to move into Kuwait. PROGENIKA has installed its innovative BLOODchip blood group and platelet genotyping platform through its sales office in the United Arab Emirates. This in-house technology is already being used in the main blood banks in Spain, Europe and the Arab countries. This involves the application of DNA chip technology to the genotyping of blood groups. This is the latest technology applied to blood groups through the analysis of the DNA of nine different blood groups.

The DNA extracted from one blood sample is used to analyze 128 mutations permitting the identification of more than 60 phenotypes, the totality of characteristics in one person, and 12 platelet antigens related with immune response. This information enables the health specialist to select the ideal donor and offer patients maximum safety during blood transfusions.

This move continues PROGENIKA's expansion in the Middle East. This began in 2008 with the introduction of the BLOODchip into the United Emirates, and makes it the personalized medicine company of reference in this part of the world.

PROGENIKA research and products are based on biochips, making it possible to analyze thousands of genetic variables simultaneously, multiplying the capacity of conventional techniques to diagnose a disease, forecast how aggressive its progress will be and predict patient response to treatment.

About PROGENIKA
In the field of personalized medicine, the PROGENIKA Group develops biochips aimed at the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and patient response to treatment. Founded in 2000, its development and production centers are located in the Technological Park in Biscay and the MIT campus in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA). In addition, it has established a sales office in the United Arab Emirates and sales and intellectual property management offices in Madrid and London. PROGENIKA has developed and patented various products already on the market, such as the LIPOchip for the diagnosis of Familial Hypercholesterolemia and the BLOODchip to ensure compatibility in blood transfusions.

For more information contact:

Patricia Loredo Sierra
Tel: 944 01 53 06
Mobile 629 74 90 47
E-mail: [email protected]