NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - PerkinElmer has struck a multi-year agreement to provide tools, materials, and expertise for newborn screening services to a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Â
Through the agreement, PerkinElmer will provide the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center with reagents, software, and screening know-how that the company said will double the hospital’s screening capacity by the end of 2008.
Â
The company said the hospital hopes to increase its screening rate to as many as 200,000 newborns by the end of 2008 and as many as 400,000 by the end of 2009. The company’s regional distributor, HVD Vertriebs, will execute the contract, under which the hospital will use the company’s Specimen Gate screening lab information management system software.
Â
The hospital currently uses PerkinElmer reagents to screen for congenital hypothyroidism, but this agreement will enable it to screen for three additional illnesses, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which affects adrenal glands; galactosemia, which can cause poor development or death; and biotinidase deficiency, which can cause seizures, developmental delay, and eczema and hearing loss.
Â
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.