Commission publishes call for TSE diagnosis tests

Brussels, 23 Jan 2003

The European Commission's Health and Consumer Protection DG has published a call for expressions of interest to participate in a programme for the evaluation of tests for the diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in ruminants.

Having previously launched two such programmes, the Commission is aware that further tests for the diagnosis of TSEs are at advanced stages of development in a number of laboratories. It therefore wishes to launch a third evaluation programme to continue the determination of the capability of such tests.

The objectives of the call are the identification, selection and evaluation of tests that may be suitable to include in the programme for the evaluation of tests for the diagnosis of TSE in ruminants.

These tests or methods should be in an operational phase, should have the capacity of being industrialised and should at least provide reliable information on the presence of TSEs in ruminants (either in vivo or post mortem testing). Priority of evaluation will be given to tests which can demonstrate high sensitivity, high specificity and low detection limits, or be useful in pre-clinical diagnosis.

Research laboratories or private or public institutions that claim to have such a test are invited to express their interest and to submit a technical dossier supporting their claim. A short preliminary trial may be held to assist in deciding which tests are most suitable for detailed evaluation.

Successful applicants will be invited to submit their test to an evaluation programme, which will include as a first phase the blind examination of samples of known TSE status (positive and negative samples).

Successful applicants with in vivo tests might be invited to continue with a second phase evaluation depending on submitted proposals. To see the call text, please visit: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2003 /c_015/c_01520030122en00130014.pdf Remarks: The deadline for submitting expressions of interest is 4 April 2003

Before contacting the Commission, proposers are strongly advised to consult the original call text in the Official Journal of the European Communities at the reference below.

Document Reference: OJ No C 15 of 22 January 2003, p.13

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