Gemelli Biotech, in partnership with Advanced Medical German Co., expands availability of breakthrough IBS diagnostic blood test to the Middle East and Northern Africa
Jan 24, 2019, 13:37 ET
LOS ANGELES and RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Gemelli Biotech announced a partnership with Kuwait-based Advanced Medical German Co. (AMG), one of the leading international distributors of medical products and services in the Middle East. Through the partnership, AMG will distribute Gemelli's proprietary diagnostic blood test for IBS, ibs-smart™, in major territories in the Middle East and North Africa, including Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, among others.
ibs-smart™, the second-generation ELISA blood test that measures antibodies known to be elevated in patients with post-infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), will now be available throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa starting in the spring of 2019.
Gemelli Biotech, the Los Angeles and Raleigh based specialty biotechnology company, developed the test in partnership with the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The test is based on a 2,500-patient study conducted at Cedars-Sinai that validated two biomarkers, anti-vinculin and anti-CdtB, for IBS. The presence of these biomarkers implicates gastroenteritis (food poisoning) as the root cause of IBS in the patient and identifies the autoimmune response at the center of the patient's symptoms.
As the only non-invasive diagnostic tool that can rule in IBS with up to 98% certainty, ibs-smart™ not only represents a significant development for the IBS diagnostic toolkit, but also reaffirms that IBS is not a psychological impairment, but rather a real, organic disease.
Gemelli Biotech launched ibs-smart™ at the American College of Gastroenterology conference in October 2018. The test is currently available for use by physicians in the United States through a kit-based system.
A review of twelve studies in the Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries showed that the prevalence of IBS in the Arab world could be as high as 31%. A published cost analysis in Clinical Therapeutics showed that, by preventing the need for unnecessary, invasive procedures, antibody blood testing for IBS could save health systems over $500 per patient. Similar studies in Mexico, UK, Denmark and Italy also showed significant potential system-wide cost savings, a benefit noted by Dr. Eyad Al Saleh, President and CEO of AMG.
"AMG has close relationships with major public and private health networks throughout the Middle East," said Dr. Eyad. "We can clearly observe an increased demand for evidence-based solutions that are effective and efficient. ibs-smart™ is a poster child for the type of tool that can improve the quality of care for the patient and provide efficiencies for the healthcare system at large."
"This is just the beginning of international expansion," says Gemelli CEO Matt Mitcho. "On a daily basis, patients from all around the world - Brazil, Poland, Australia - reach out to us to request the test. The pivotal IBS biomarker study conducted at Cedars-Sinai is also now being replicated throughout the world - very recently in Mexico and Korea. The awareness of the latest research and the acceptance of IBS as a major organic disease is growing throughout the world. IBS is a global problem and ibs-smart™ antibody testing can very well be part of the global solution."
About ibs-smart™
ibs-smart™ is the second generation blood test that measures two antibodies, anti-vinculin and anti-CdtB, known to be elevated in patients with post-infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). If the test determines that both antibodies are elevated in a patient, there is a 98% post-test probability of IBS. The test is over 90% specific in distinguishing IBS from IBD. ibs-smart™ has been developed by Gemelli Biotech and uses patented technology exclusively licensed from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Learn more at: www.ibssmart.com
About Gemelli Biotech
Gemelli Biotech is a specialty biotechnology company that strives to achieve a thriving global family of healthy individuals by unlocking the potential of the microbiome. Gemelli's mission is to support the discovery of novel diagnostics and therapeutics for the human microbiome by bringing biotechnology innovations to market in a fiscally responsible and socially conscious way. Learn more at www.gemellibiotech.com
About Advanced Medical German Co.
Advanced Medical German Company is one of the leading distributors in medical products and services, with a mission of improving health care services. Its corporate office is located in Kuwait and operates business in GCC and also in international market. Its business structure is vertically diversified into Laboratories Division, Life Science Division, Pharmaceuticals Division and Medical Equipments Division. Learn more at http://www.amgkwt.com
SOURCE Gemelli Biotech