Courtagen launches nucSEEKPDx assay

Courtagen Life Sciences, Inc., a privately held life sciences company that provides innovative proteomic and genomic products and services to the life sciences industry, today announced the expansion of their genetic test menu. The new genetic test, nucSEEKPDx™, will sequence approximately 1,100 nuclear genes constituting the mitochondrial exome, which encodes the vast majority of proteins found in the mitochondrion. This test is by far the most comprehensive test on the market for the management of mitochondrial disorders. Targeting the complete mito exome provides a greater potential to identify rare variants predicted to disrupt normal mitochondrial function, allowing for an exact diagnosis in a large proportion of patients that remain undiagnosed by other methods. Over 95% of the target bases are sequenced to an average coverage of 400x, providing highly accurate and sensitive results.    

Courtagen's nucSEEKPDx™ test expands their current mitochondrial testing menu. Test results will be delivered to clinicians within weeks versus the typical industry standard delivery time of months. nucSEEKPDx^TM complements the current mtSEEKPDx™ test for whole mitochondrial genome analysis that has been offered since March 2012. Courtagen received CLIA certification from Massachusetts in March and is pleased to announce recent license approval from the state of California, allowing expansion of services to cover residents of 45 states. Later this year, Courtagen intends to release the first version of its "Omics App" that will enhance their physician clientele's ability to quickly and easily incorporate the company's proteomic and genomic testing results into the medical evaluation process, leading to faster diagnosis and treatment.

"Until I started working with Courtagen, I had never been satisfied with the quality of interpretation from other laboratories," stated Dr. Richard G. Boles, MD, a leading expert in mitochondrial disease and the Medical Director at Courtagen. "The Courtagen nucSEEKPDx assay is the most comprehensive test on the market, and provides an interpretation in language that physicians can understand and use for the real benefit of their patients."

Courtagen's tests are highly sensitive, efficient, comprehensive, and address the significant need for a quicker, less invasive, and more reliable diagnostic tool for this patient population. These tests are designed to replace a muscle biopsy, which is painful, dangerous in some cases, less informative, and generally more expensive than the nucSEEKPDx™ plus mtSEEKPDx™ tests. The company will continue to expand the menu of test options later this year, ultimately offering a combination of multiplex proteomic and Next Generation Sequencing genomic assays.