It also represents the first of a series of genetic diversity web sites that Orchid intends to establish as part of its web-based direct-to-marketplace GeneShield initiative. The new web site will use the power of the Internet to strengthen those services to increase the availability of private HLA testing for potential donors.
Orchid is proud to sponsor the first web site designed to facilitate private bone marrow testing and provide an national listing of donor drives, said Dr Dale Pfost, chairman, president and CEO of Orchid in a press release. By leveraging the Internet, Orchid intends to empower patients in their search for a suitable donor for a potentially life-saving transplant. BoneMarrowTest.com is also the first embodiment of our direct-to-marketplace GeneShield initiative. We are planning a phased roll-out of targeted GeneShield web sites offering genetic diversity testing and information to health care professionals and patients.
Orchid’s GeneScreen business offers online ordering of HLA testing kits for extended family and community donor testing and access to sample collection services. The patient samples are collected by health care professionals and returned to GeneScreen’s CLIA approved laboratories for analysis. Results are sent to both the prospective donors and any health providers or transplant programs they designate.
GeneScreen is delighted to launch BoneMarrowTest.com, our web site designed to enable extended family members and others in the community to obtain private HLA testing quickly and cost effectively, without a requirement to join a transplant registry, said Keith Brown, vice president and general manager at GeneScreen’s headquarters in Dallas, Texas. BoneMarrowTest.com is the first of a series of DNA and genetic diversity web initiatives that Orchid plans to sponsor.
Through BoneMarrowTest.com, patients can access GeneScreen’s support services for assistance in organizing family and community-based donor drives and in obtaining funding for testing. In addition, the web site has contact information for other bone marrow transplant resources, including the NMDP(R), major national and international independent donor registries like the Caitlin Raymond International Registry, and genealogy web sites.
