Arcedi Biotech Plc.

Arcedi Biotech has developed a unique, proprietary method for isolating and identifying fetal cells from maternal blood. Fetal cells circulate in the maternal bloodstream already in the 1^st trimester (up to and including week 12) which means that in case these fetal cells can be identified these may be used to diagnose harmlessly if the pregnant couple risks to get a child with genetic defects.

Today pregnant women are screened for Down’s syndrome by means of i.e. ultrasonic scanning. In case the result of this screening causes a risk of 1:250 or more the pregnant woman are offered an amniocentesis or a chorionic villus sampling to get a final clarification. For these kinds of invasive procedures, however, the risk of abortion is 1-2%. Obviously, this is not desirable and can be avoided by Arcedi Biotech’s method. The vision is that over time the method will result in not only the diagnosis of Down’s syndrome but also other genetically determined diseases and totally remove the need for invasive procedures.

The company’s technology and method is based on more than 15 years of research. The laboratories are located at Aarhus University Hospital and the company is having a close co-operation with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as the Department of Clinical Genetics.

For further information: www.arcedi.com