Response Biomed Corp RPBIF

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Response Biomedical Announces Funded Development Program with Roche Diagnostics to Expand Cardiovascular Product Offerings

    VANCOUVER, Feb. 12 /CNW/ - Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX: RBM,OTCBB: RPBIF) announced that Roche Diagnostics has agreed to fund two newprojects aimed at strengthening the commercial success of the Responsecardiovascular line of products that Roche is expected to market in NorthAmerica, beginning in this quarter. Response Biomedical and Roche Diagnosticssigned a strategic partnership in June 2008 to commercialize Response'scardiovascular tests.    The first project approved for funding is to complete a submission for aCLIA-waiver for the RAMP(R) NT-proBNP assay. NT-proBNP is used in thediagnosis of heart failure. The RAMP(R) NT-proBNP assay has been well acceptedas a rapid, accurate test to expedite this diagnosis. In an effort to expandthe availability of this system to physician's offices and smaller grouppractices that are only licensed to perform simple (CLIA-waived) tests, Rocheand Response will combine efforts to complete a clinical trial to supportCLIA-waived status for the RAMP(R) NT-proBNP assay. The trial is expected tobe completed and the CLIA-waiver submission made to the FDA in 2009.    "The availability of a CLIA-waived NT-proBNP test will open the doors tothe use of the Cardiac 200 system in small practices and physician's offices,and will complement current CLIA-waived Roche offerings for blood glucose andoral anticoagulation monitoring," said Bernd Schnakenberg, Head ofDecentralized Solutions, Roche Professional Diagnostics.    The next project Response will undertake, is a next-generation Troponin I(TnI) assay development. Troponin I is a critical part of the diagnosis ofheart attacks or acute myocardial infarction, especially for the more than 50percent of cases where an electrocardiogram is inconclusive. The developmentof the improved RAMP(R) TnI test will re-align the results obtained to moreclosely reflect those obtained on the most commonly used central laboratoryanalyzers.    "We are very excited about expanding our collaboration with RocheDiagnostics," said S. Wayne Kay, Chief Executive Officer, Response Biomedical."Roche is one of the largest in vitro diagnostics companies in the world, andwe could not ask for a stronger partner to commercialize our cardiovascularproduct line. We have already begun work on these two important projects andRoche's support will allow us the ability to focus key resources to advancethe cardiovascular product line while conserving cash outlays by Response."    The RAMP(R) cardiovascular product line includes NT-proBNP, Troponin I,CK-MB and Myoglobin tests.    About Response Biomedical