Phadia announces launch of celiac disease tests

UPPSALA, Sweden Phadia on Thursday announced the launch of two new assays to support the accurate diagnosis of celiac disease.

“Our launch this month of EliA Gliadin IgA and EliA Gliadin IgG will offer physicians who suspect a possible case of celiac disease antibody tests with the lowest number of false positive results,” stated Stefan Eschbach, general manager of autoimmunity, Phadia. “This means avoiding putting patients through unnecessary biopsies.”

Celiac disease is a life-long condition in which ingestion of “gluten”, the water insoluble wheat-gliadin and the prolamins in rye and barley, leads to chronic inflammation and damage of the lining of the small intestine.

Approximately 1-out-of-every-250 people may have celiac disease, however, only 1-out-of-10 people with the disease may be actually be diagnosed, Eschbach noted. There may be as many 5 million worldwide with celiac disease.

A Mayo Clinic study published in last month’s issue of Gastroenterology reported that celiac disease is four times more common today than it was 50 years ago. Another key finding: Individuals who don’t realize they suffer from celiac disease (and therefore never received treatment for it) were four times more likely to have died during the study’s 45 years of monitoring versus individuals not affected by celiac disease.