Ridge Diagnostics this week announced the launch of its MDDScore product, a proteomic test for aiding diagnosis of major depressive disorder.
The launch follows the presentation by the company at last week's Annual Scientific Convention and Meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry of data from a recent clinical study demonstrating that the test when combined with patient gender and body mass index was able to diagnose MDD with 94 percent sensitivity and 92 percent specificity.
The MDDScore test consists of nine protein markers from four biologic pathways, including inflammatory, metabolic, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and neurochemical molecules. The company measures each of the nine markers using ELISAs and incorporates them using an algorithm that scores samples on a scale of one to nine, with one representing the least likelihood of a patient having MDD and nine marking the highest chance.
The test is "intended to augment the current tools used for neuropsychiatric diagnosis and patient management," the company said.
In a pair of prospective studies led by Massachusetts General Hospital researcher George Papakostas and published in Molecular Psychiatry in December 2011, the panel identified MDD sufferers with roughly 90 percent sensitivity and 80 percent specificity (PM 2/10/2012).
Ridge has been offering the test for more than a year to select psychiatrists through a pilot program, but is now expanding its commercialization efforts. The company sells the test out of its CLIA-approved lab for $745.