The blood test procedure used on newborn infants for 40 years is finding a second life in the search for new lifesaving medications, according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
C&EN Senior Editor Celia Henry Arnaud notes that collecting drops of blood from patients and depositing the drops on special paper cards to dry has been used for decades to screen newborns for hereditary disorders and infectious disease. But the dried blood spot technology has found a new role at pharmaceutical companies in the development and testing of new drugs.
The approach, possible now because modern lab instruments are more sensitive, has distinct advantages. The dried blood approach, for instance, involves taking only a few drops of blood from patients in clinical trials, and these can be stored and shipped more easily and inexpensively than liquid samples. Those advantages, alone, could cut the cost of introducing new drugs by millions of dollars, the article indicates.
ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Technology Renews A Basic Approach”
This story is available at
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/89/8903cover.html
ScienceBlog.com has no paywalls, no sponsored content, and no agenda beyond getting the science right. Every story here is written to inform, not to impress an advertiser or push a point of view.
Good science journalism takes time — reading the papers, checking the claims, finding researchers who can put findings in context. We do that work because we think it matters.
If you find this site useful, consider supporting it with a donation. Even a few dollars a month helps keep the coverage independent and free for everyone.