1 February 2012 - US biomedical company Biomerica Inc (OTCBB:BMRA) said on Tuesday it had released a new patented Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) test to identify individuals who are at risk of developing severe or fatal side effects after treatment with thiopurine drugs.

The new TPMT product is being launched globally and will be sold to labs and hospitals in the US only after the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The two main US reference labs which offer TMPT test charge more than USD200 (EUR153) per sample, a cost Biomerica hopes to slash by 40% to below USD120 per sample as it claims its test has major advantages in terms of simplicity, testing time, accuracy and expenses.

Thiopurine drugs including azathioprine, mercaptopurine and thioguanine suppress the immune system and are used in a range of diseases such as lymphoma and leukemia, psoriasis, severe eczema and inflammatory bowel disease. People who lack TPMT, an enzyme that removes thiopurine drugs from the body, are exposed to toxicity from the drug accumulation when treated with normal doses of thiopurine drugs.

(USD1 = EUR0.764)