News Releases
Joint Commercialization of a Qualitative Urinary Trypsinogen-2 Diagnostic Test
(Tokyo, July 7, 2003) Mochida, Unitika and Medix Biochemica concluded an exclusive distributorship agreement for the Japanese market on a qualitative urinary trypsinogen-2 diagnostic test (actim pancreatitis) to diagnose the acute pancreatitis and a quantitative trypsinogen-2 ELISA test for research purposes. Unitika is conducting clinical studies for a qualitative trypsinogen-2 diagnostic test in Japan, and plans to obtain the governmental approval and reimbursement price within 2 years. After that, Unitika will import the kit from Medix Biochemica and Mochida will sell it on an exclusive basis in Japan.
The qualitative urinary trypsinogen-2 diagnostic test was originally launched in 1996 in Finland by Medix Biochemica in a collaboration with Dr. Ulf-Hakan Stemann and Dr. Esko Kemppainen of Helsinki University Central Hospital, who discovered the elevation of urinary trypsinogen-2 in acute pancreatitis patients. This diagnostic test can diagnose acute pancreatitis rapidly and easily compared with other kits. It is currently available in most of the European countries including France, Germany and Italy; and it is also available in Asian countries such as China and Korea.
Before the launch of the qualitative urinary trypsinogen-2 diagnostic test, Unitika put the ELISA test on the Japanese market in April 2003. The purpose is to investigate the relationship between a concentration, including the time course, of trypsinogen-2 and severity of acute pancreatitis in Japanese patients. This ELISA test will be exhibited at the 34th annual meeting of the Japanese Pancreas Society in July.