PLAYING DOCTOR MEDICAL FIRMS SEE GROWING MARKET
FOR HOME DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

It's the ultimate house call home diagnostic test kits that allow
consumers to play doctor in the privacy of their own home.

A growing number of companies are catering to consumers' increasing
desire to turn their home medicine cabinets into minimedical labs.

With a few drops of blood or a small cup of urine, consumers can test
cholesterol, measure blood glucose, screen for colon or rectal cancer,
detect bladder infections or prostate problems, predict ovulation or
confirm a pregnancy.

Afraid your kid is abusing illegal drugs? Irvine, Calif.-based
Worldwide Medical Corp. offers at-home urine tests to detect
marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and heroin.

Want to make sure your kid is your kid? There's even a DNA test kit
offered by Invitro International, also of Irvine, Calif.

The self-test diagnostic market is poised for substantial growth and
more new products, said Celine Bernard, a research analyst with Frost
& Sullivan, a Mountain View, Calif. health-care marketing and research
firm.

American consumers now spend $1.2 billion yearly to analyze their
bodily fluids at home - most of it in blood glucose tests for
diagnosing or monitoring diabetes, according to a 1998 study by Frost
& Sullivan.

In comparison, other home tests are barely a blip on the screen. Yet
some industry insiders predict sales may soon take off, fueled by
improved technology, lower cost and aging baby boomers hooked on do-
it-yourself preventative medicine.

"Home diagnostics is already a big market," Bernard said. "But the
potential is much bigger."

That potential is what companies like Newport Beach, Calif.-based
Biomerica are banking on. Though the bulk of Biomerica's diagnostic
kits are sold to laboratories, hospitals and doctor's offices, the
company is cultivating a growing over-the-counter business.

Under the trade name EZ Detect, Biomerica makes FDA-approved home test
kits to detect colorectal disease and prostate problems, on sale in
many drug stores.

Zackary Irani, chief executive of Biomerica, said sales for the EZ
Detect line were slow when the $6-$7.50 test kits were first
introduced in 1992. But sales began to take off last year, thanks to
increased consumer awareness and more media exposure, including an
October feature story in Men's Health magazine.

Worldwide Medical markets in-home drug tests under the name First
Check, said Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Thad Morris.

"Drug abuse among teens is a big issue - and that's why it's going to
be successful as a product," Morris said. The tests retail for $9.99
to $25.99.

And in the spirit of there's-a-home-test-kit-for-everything, Invitro
International is marketing its Guardian DNA kit for parents who want a
DNA record of their child in the event that he or she is kidnapped or
seized by a noncustodial parent.

The company, which derives most of its revenue from developing
nonanimal laboratory tests to gauge irritants in cosmetics and other
products, began marketing Guardian two years ago on its Web site.

For $29.95, parents receive a kit that contains a child safety video,
a holder for infant records and a method to take and store a DNA
sample of their child.

The DNA test itself would be conducted in a laboratory, but the
process for collecting and storing the DNA is simplicity itself: Four
sterile cotton swabs from the kit are swiped along the inside of a
child's cheeks and placed in a vial containing a preservative solution.

A bar code is affixed to the vial for identification, and it is
shipped to a medical facility where it's stored for 18 years. A
duplicate bar code, which assures anonymity, stays with the parent -
the key that allows a parent to access the sample.

Rich Ulmer, president of Invitro, said the DNA record comes in handy
if, for instance, a missing child is found years later and identity
needs to be established.