IBS or IBD? New enteric panel from Inverness Medical solves growing dilemma

Inverness Medical today announced the addition of the TechLab enteric panel to its global distribution portfolio. This ground-breaking range of rapid tests enables healthcare professionals to distinguish rapidly between patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

As many as 4 million people worldwide suffer from a form of IBD which comprises ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The three tests – IBD EZ VUE™,IBD-SCAN^® and IBD-CHEK^® – are intended to provide first lines of enquiry prior to follow-up with the current highly invasive Gold Standard of colonoscopy. The announcement follows on from Inverness Medical’s acquisition of a 49% stake in TechLab last year which will also lead to new product development.

All three tests detect elevated faecal lactoferrin which is a marker for faecal leukocytes and has become well established in recent years as an indicator of intestinal inflammation. The presence of faecal leukocytes enables IBS to be ruled out since it is a non-inflammatory condition. According to Inverness Medical’s VP International Business, David Walton, the three TechLab test formats have been designed to meet varying diagnostic needs at all stages of the disease: “IBD EZ VUE is a simple point of care test based on lateral flow technology that provides results in 10 minutes and can be used by physicians and nurses for frontline diagnosis. IBD-CHEK on the other hand is a qualitative ELISA for rapid elimination screening with a turnaround time of just 75 minutes. Finally IBD-SCAN is a quantitative test that uses both liquid and solid faecal samples and can also monitor therapy and predict relapse. The tests will be available through our international network and we hope they will make a significant contribution to improving patient diagnoses.”

Two other TechLab tests in Inverness Medical’s enterics portfolio also offer new cost-effective solutions to long-standing problems. LEUKO-TEST is a rapid screen, again based on lactoferrin detection, for discriminating between inflammatory and non-inflammatory diarrhoeas. ASCA-CHECK detects human anti-Saccharomyces cerervisiae antibodies in faeces and can be used to differentiate Crohn’s disease from other gastrointestinal illnesses.