Our Business
Our business is divided into three main areas:-
Freelite, a novel and highly significant tumour marker increasingly used for the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple myeloma, a cancer of cells in the bone marrow. Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
With over 15,000 new cases of multiple myeloma and associated types of cancer expected to be diagnosed each year in the USA alone, this is one of the key drivers for the future growth of our business. Considered almost untreatable only 20 years ago, huge strides have been made in the successful treatment of multiple myeloma with new drugs becoming available and new treatment regimes being assessed. Freelite has been used as a sensitive marker for the efficacy of some of these newer treatments and has helped clinicians gain a clear understanding of how some of these drugs are benefiting their patients. Furthermore, with numerous different therapies now available, treatment decisions which may have taken weeks or months can now be made in days thanks to the availability of sensitive and reliable results using Freelite. National and International guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma and associated cancers now include Freelite results as a requirement for monitoring the treatment of patients. Numerous clinical trials are underway to look at the use of Freelite in a range of other malignancies as well as how the results may radically change the management of complications such as renal disease in cancer patients. There are currently approximately 1.5 million Freelite tests performed per annum with the number of analyses increasing at a rate of approx. 50% p.a
The diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases (caused when the body is unable to distinguish between foreign and self)
Many common diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis are autoimmune in origin and we manufacture a range of diagnostic assays and reagents used in hospital laboratories worldwide to help diagnose and monitor the treatment of these diseases, e.g. antiphospholipid syndrome, vasculitis and coeliac disease. The number of patients worldwide believed to be suffering from autoimmmune mediated disease is in the region of tens of millions. As the world's population ages so the incidence of these often debilitating and chronic disorders increases as their incidence increases in frequency with age.
Products used for the detection of immunodeficiency
These include the inherited or acquired disorders of the immune system and products used in donor selection and manufacture of vaccines. The Binding Site has been and remains a market leader in products for the investigation of these diseases. New applications in the biotechnology sector have ensured the continued growth of this product range.
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