Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Schizophrenia Detection Product

IVMD Announces Commercial Agreement on New Diagnostic Product For Schizophrenia

"A rapid, low cost, non-invasive diagnostic product for the early and effective detection of mental illness" is being developed by,"In Veritas, a medical device company..." In Veritas "...announced it has signed a Commercial Agreement on a joint project with The Ness Foundation, a Scottish based neuro-developmental research organization." This appears to be the commercialization of the "breath test for schizophrenia" research news that we covered several years ago. Its good to see it finally moving towards commercialization. In their press release, they stated:

IVMD will apply its patented, low cost, measurement systems together with The Ness Foundation's intellectual property to develop a rapid, low cost, non-invasive diagnostic product for the early and effective detection of mental illness.

The joint development will focus in the area of phospholipid spectrum disorders - "disorders that describe a problem with the cell membrane (a structure that separates one cell from another), which may cause a breakdown in communication between brain cells. It may also alter how the brain develops and reacts to change throughout a person’s lifetime " - and the breakdown in communication between brain cells - nerve cells or neurons in the brain - to evaluate simple, quantitative and diagnostic tests.

Currently the process is imprecise, requires skilled interpretation and is costly, preventing any widespread use. It has been estimated that one in six people worldwide will suffer from a medically identified neuro-developmental illness - examples of neuro-developmental illnesses are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dyspraxia and ADHD - with one in one hundred having a serious condition (Source: "Counting the Cost": Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health)

The WHO statistics show 24 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia (0.7% of the adult population) and the cost of treatment alone is $1.44 billion per year. If diagnosed early there are significant improvements in outcome to the patient and reduced healthcare costs

Douglas Mundie, Chairman, Ness Foundation said, "We hope that by using IVMD's technology with our own Intellectual Property we can further the understanding and effective treatment of neuro-developmental disorders".

Source: IVMD Press release on Schizophrenia Detection Product

To learn more about phospholipid spectrum disorders and neuro-developmental disorders.