News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Florida-based Bio-Med subsidiary of Israeli biotech company Micromedic Technologies is in clinical trials that could lead to a blood test kit in as little as two years to screen for osteonecrosis or rotting of the jawbone, according to ISRAEL21c.com. Osteonecrosis can lead to infection and even death, and as many as nine percent of the people using drugs containing biphosphanates over a long period of time for osteoperosis or breast or prostate cancer are at risk for serious bone rot of the jaw.

Bio-Med believes its test could warn doctors from 50-70 percent of the time if a person is at risk. Bio-Med head Joseph Katz told ISRAEL21c at a recent oral oncology conference in Israel, "There are alternatives. One could prescribe less potent drugs. There are also other medications that could be used."

Bio-Med is also working on a biomarker that could be used as a screening test for oral cancer.