GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today has launched its CLIA compliant diagnostic testing laboratory, Panacea Laboratories. Panacea Laboratories will provide blood, serum and tissue tests to diagnose and monitor cancer. The first test, TK Sense, measures expression of the gene encoding Human aspartyl (asparaginyl) Beta-hydroxylase (HAAH) in leukocytes in patients with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) to identify those patients unlikely to respond to therapeutic treatment with imatinib mesylate (Gleevec®). Although the molecular hallmark of CML is a mutation in a gene known as BCR-ABL, mutations to the ABL portion of the gene do not reliably predict response to Gleevec® therapy. Future products will include serum tests to diagnose and monitor prostate, liver, lung, cervical and other cancers.
