PerkinElmer launches health screening lab in India, partners with MediScan Systems

CHENNAI, India—As part of an effort to increase theavailability of maternal and neonatal diagnostics, PerkinElmer Inc. inmid-February announced that it has expanded its fetal, maternal and neonatalhealth screening capability in India, with the inauguration of the PerkinElmerHealth Sciences laboratory.

The new laboratory, located in Chennai, willfeature PerkinElmer's latest technologies for diagnosing common and serioushealth issues in expecting mothers and babies in India, including prenataltesting for Down Syndrome and other genetic disorders, maternal testing forpre-eclampsia, diabetes, thyroid disorders, and infectious disease, and newborntesting for potentially fatal inherited and metabolic disorders.

"PerkinElmer is delighted to announce the openingof our new laboratory in Chennai which brings greater availability of fetal,maternal and newborn screening to mothers and children in India," says Ann-ChristineSundell, president of genetic screening for PerkinElmer. "Of the more than 25million babies born annually in India today, only a small percentage haveaccess to medical screening to detect and treat health issues. In partnershipwith local leaders in fetal medicine, we look forward to improving familyhealth outcomes."

At the same time, PerkinElmer announced itscollaboration with MediScan Systems, which will support of the company's fetaland maternal health program. MediScan is led by founder Dr. S. Suresh, aleading fetal medicine specialist and sonologist in India. MediScan wasrecently certified by Dr. Kypros Nicolaides, director of the Fetal MedicineFoundation UK, as the first official Fetal Medicine Foundation Training Centerin India.

"We are very excited about our partnership withPerkinElmer, because working together we can now bring the highest qualityfetal and maternal health diagnostics to young Indian families all over India,"Suresh says.

PerkinElmer India, a wholly-owned subsidiary ofPerkinElmer, operates as a direct sales, service and marketing operationtargeting India's life science and analytical instrumentation markets.PerkinElmer India serves approximately 1,500 customers across variousindustries, including pharmaceutical, government, environmental, petrochemicaland chemical.

The company provides precision instrumentation, testing systemsand components, software and services for a wide range of scientific andindustrial laboratory applications. Its products are used in predictivediagnostics, personalized medicine and environmental monitoring. PerkinElmerIndia currently employs approximately 170 people in Bangalore, Baroda, Chennai,Hyderabad, Kolkatta, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune and Thane.