Scottish Parliament recently debated the growing prevalence of pernicious anaemia, a chronic illness caused by impaired absorption of Vitamin B12, and other Vitamin B12 deficiencies and expressed concern about the lack of reliable tools to aid in the diagnosis of both conditions.  Vitamin B12 deficiency poses a significant public health problem, affecting more than 100,000 Scots, and is especially common in elderly populations.  Although the deficiency can be treated with Vitamin B12 supplements, it has been associated with the development of neurodegenerative conditions, some of which may be irreversible, and early detection can play a critical role in preventing permanent neurological damage.

While current methods for diagnosing B12 deficiencies have shown themselves to be unreliable and may fail to identify as many as 50% of deficient patients, Axis-Shield Limited, an international provider of in vitro diagnostics that is part of Alere Inc., has developed an innovative new product, Active-B12, to address these diagnostic gaps. It was revealed during the parliamentary debate that Active-B12 offered superior accuracy compared to the other available blood tests for the diagnosis of B12 deficiency.  Additionally, all of the speakers who participated in the debate urged general practitioners and health boards to adopt Active-B12 as their primary diagnostic tool for these cases, and data from several recent publications support the view that Active-B12 is the most effective front-line assay for the diagnosis of B12 deficiency.

"We are pleased that Scottish Parliament understands the serious risks pernicious anaemia and Vitamin B12 deficiency pose to public health," said Colin King, a managing director from Axis-Shield. "We are also encouraged by the fact that Parliament recognizes the promise of Axis-Shield's Active-B12 test for diagnosing these diseases as well as its superiority to other accepted diagnostic methods, which have proven to be ineffective in identifying significant portions of the B12-deficient population. We remain committed to expanding the test's availability through further licensing arrangements, especially as commercial interest continues to grow."  

Today, the Active-B12 test (HoloTranscobalamin) is available globally through Abbott Diagnostics and run on Abbott's AxSYM^® and Architect platforms.  Axis-Shield plans to launch an ELISA-based (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) format within the next few weeks. 

More details are available at www.active-b12.com.