HELSINKI, November 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Biohit is extending its range of diagnostic tests for gastrointestinal diseases with ColonView Hb and Hb/Hp quick tests, which are intended to aid early diagnosis and prevention of colorectal cancer. ColonView testing can be used for simple and cost-effective identification of patients with fecal occult blood, which is a well-known marker for colorectal cancer and pre-cancerous large adenomas. ColonView testing can also give information on possible other disease of the gastrointestinal tract that is associated with bleeding.

ColonView Hb test detects human hemoglobin (Hb) from red blood cells, and ColonView Hb/Hp test detects hemoglobin/haptoglobin complex (Hb/Hp). They are immunological tests that specifically detect human fecal occult blood. For this reason, ColonView testing does not require a special diet on the days before or during sample collection. Patients can collect fecal samples at home on three consecutive days in a convenient and simple way, and forward the samples to the laboratory for single-step testing.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers of the industrialized world, and it has a high mortality rate. Risk groups for colorectal cancer include the elderly, and also relatives of colorectal cancer patients. Diagnosis of the cancer at an early stage significantly improves the prognosis. For this reason, screening programs for colorectal cancer are recommended or ongoing in many countries.

Screening for fecal occult blood has been found to improve early detection of colorectal cancer in many studies. The sensitive and specific ColonView tests are well suited for screening programs and for testing of patients in hospitals, doctors' practices and occupational health centers for fecal occult blood. Patients who may benefit from this are those suffering from dyspepsia, and people over 50 years of age, in particular, as part of routine health checks.

The global market for quick tests intended for detection of fecal occult blood is already worth over EUR 500 million, of which most is still achieved by sales of tests that are not specific for human blood.

Read more at http://www.biohit.com.

About Biohit Oyj

Biohit Oyj develops, manufactures and markets liquid handling products and diagnostic test systems for use in research, health care and industrial laboratories.

Liquid handling products include electronic and mechanical pipettes and dispensers, and disposable tips, as well as pipette maintenance and calibration services. Diagnostics business comprises products and analysis systems for diagnosing, screening and prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, e.g. the blood-sample based GastroPanel and GastroView, for diagnosing diseases of the stomach and associated risks, as well as biopsy specimen quick tests for the diagnosis of lactose intolerance and H. pylori infection.

Biohit Oyj is headquartered in Finland. Biohit has subsidiaries in France, Germany, the UK, Russia, China, Japan and the USA. Additionally, Biohit's products are sold by approximately 450 distributors in 70 countries. Biohit's share (BIOBV) is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.