PerkinElmer opens Suzhou, China medical laboratory

PERKINELMER Inc. has recently inaugurated its Suzhou PerkinElmer Medical Laboratory Co. Ltd. in China.

 

Established with the aim of preventing birth defects in newborns and infectious diseases in adults, the new, state-of-the-art facility will provide a comprehensive range of lab services to hospitals and patients in China. It will also serve as a venue for academics and clinical medical doctors for collaboration and training, scientific R&D, and the development of new technologies for clinical use applying medical research. 

 

The Suzhou PerkinElmer Medical Laboratory will extend PerkinElmer’s neonatal, prenatal, and infectious disease screening solutions. Its range of lab services will include molecular cytogenetics detection, screening for inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs), and viral loads testing. An expansion of the lab services will include a series of tumor testing and new applications based on molecular cytogenetic platforms such as sequencing technology.

 

According to Johnson Zhang, vice president and general manager, Diagnostics, Asia-Pacific for PerkinElmer, “As the global leader for prenatal and neonatal screening and infectious disease detection, we have strong relationships-–some which have lasted for over 20 years--with more than 400 prenatal and neonatal screening centers and over 2,000 infectious disease screening laboratories across China.”

 

Mr. Zhang added that China continues efforts in improving the efficiency of prenatal and neonatal screening to lower the false positive rate, develop innovative and rapid prenatal diagnosis technology for the detection of chromosomal disorders, and expand access to infectious disease screening testing.

 

Xu-ming Bian, professor at the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said the Chinese government is strengthening emphasis on maternity and child care institutions for the prevention of birth defects as the country’s newborn population exceeds 16 million per year and prenatal screening only at 40 percent. 

 

“Chinese regulations on maternal and child health administration are improving, the national birth defects prevention network is evolving, and prenatal screening and diagnosis systems have been established. The Chinese government continues to support third-party labs such as PerkinElmer’s Suzhou facility to respond to the needs of its residents.”

 

A global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment, PerkinElmer provides a comprehensive portfolio of instruments, kits, and software for screening neonatal, prenatal, and infectious diseases.