SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc has launched a new product in its diagnostic controls and panels portfolio-the SeraCare Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genotype Performance Panel. This panel is the first product on the market to enable testing laboratories, researchers and diagnostic manufacturers to validate their entire HPV testing system, ensuring that testing systems can differentiate between high- and low-risk HPV genotypes. In addition, the panel contains members specific for HPV type 16 and 18, strains that lead to nearly 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases, to allow for the evaluation of newer HPV testing systems that can distinguish these two high-risk viruses. Adoption of the panel will provide users with the most complete information available to evaluate HPV test kit efficacy and to guide more informed treatment decisions.

Studies have shown that testing for HPV, the virus that can lead to cervical cancer, is the most effective way to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer when compared to Pap testing and that a single round of molecular HPV testing significantly reduces the number of advanced cervical cancers and deaths. Based on these data, there has been a dramatic rise in diagnostic testing for HPV, resulting in a need for more comprehensive controls and panels to verify the accuracy of HPV testing. SeraCare's HPV Performance Panel is compatible with a number of widely-used HPV DNA tests, including tests manufactured by Qiagen, Hologic and Roche.

"SeraCare is pleased to have met our 2009 corporate objective to introduce the market's first comprehensive HPV Performance Panel," said Susan Vogt, president and chief executive officer of SeraCare. "This is a key component of our growth strategy because HPV testing is one of the largest and fastest growing segments within molecular diagnostics today. The HPV panel also marks the third new product offering we have introduced this year to improve the testing and treatment of serious diseases in high-value research and therapeutic areas. We believe these new products will contribute to SeraCare's near-term goal of achieving and sustaining operating profitability."

SeraCare serves the global life sciences industry by providing vital products and services to facilitate the discovery, validation and production of human diagnostics and therapeutics.