Basque-based biotechnology group Progenika has officially inaugurated its first diagnosis service centre outside Spain. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the new facility has been given a clean bill of health by the Federal Center for Medicare and recently obtained the CLIA register. In a press release yesterday, the group referred to the strict criteria governing the CLIA award, describing its achievement as a "real record for a non-US company that has been in America for less than a year."

As Progenika scientific manager Antonio Martínez explains, "obtaining the CLIA certificate is a major step for the firm, because it means the United States recognizes the quality of our services, putting them on the same level as the country's own benchmark laboratories."

From now on, Progenika will be gradually introducing onto the US market a series of diagnostic tests based on what is known as micro-array technology, used to diagnose familial hypercholesterolemia, and the first test for blood groups designed to increase donor-receiver compatibility, thus improving transfusion safety levels.