Seegene Introduces Only Diagnostic Approach Capable of Detecting Most Prevalent Sexually Transmitted Diseases in a Single Test

More than half of all people will be infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) at some point in their lifetime. However, fewer than a third of these individuals are routinely screened for STDs. In an effort to encourage widespread STD screening to help slow the transmission of these infections and promote more responsive and effective patient care, Seegene today introduced a new STD/HPV diagnostic test capable of simultaneously detecting the most common bacteria and viruses causing STDs.

Seegene’s new Seeplex STD/HPV test screens for Chlamydia Trachomatis (CT), Neisseria Gonorrhea (NG), as well as 14 Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) high risk types and 5 HPV low risk types in a single reaction tube, at the price point of a single pathogen test using the same sample.

Current clinical STD and HPV screening procedures are not cost efficient, using a separate test to detect each indication for CT, NG, HPV High Risk, and HPV Low Risk. Since STD infections have a high co-infection rate (with afflicted individuals exhibiting more than one STD infection), and HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer, clinical healthcare systems need an effective and economical diagnostic tool, one capable of detecting the most prevalent STD and HPV pathogens with a single test.

The Seeplex STD/HPV test enables clinicians to test for:

• Chlamydia trachomatis
• Neisseria gonorrhoeae
• Human Papillomavirus 14 high risk subtypes screening
• Human Papillomavirus 5 low risk subtypes screening

The new Seeplex STD/HPV diagnostic test enables healthcare providers to quickly, accurately and cost-effectively determine most prevalent STD/HPV infections in patients. Armed with this diagnostic information, physicians will be able to write better prescriptions, and clinicians can provide the best course of treatment.

“Since most STD and HPV cause no noticeable symptoms, they go undetected. These asymptomatic infections can be diagnosed only through testing. Therefore, the only way to slow the spread of STD/HPV along with their dangerous effects, like cervical cancer, is to provide routine and ubiquitous screening programs,” said Jong-Yoon Chun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Seegene.

According to a study in the February 28, 2007 issue of JAMA, approximately one in four US females between the ages of 14 and 59 years is at risk for sexually transmitted infections, which typically exhibit no visible symptoms. High risk HPV types are detected in 99 percent of cervical cancers and over 70 percent of cervical cancers are caused by HPV types 16 and 18. Alarmingly, individuals diagnosed positive for HPV are on average infected with up to five different types of HPVs.

These extremely high STD infection rates among the general population place an enormous financial burden upon healthcare systems and on patient point of care systems. Supporting this assertion, The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) computer model of the cost of STD infections estimates that the 9.1 million new STD infections among 15-to-24-year-olds in the United States in the year 2000 cost $6.5 billion in direct medical costs.