HEALTH CARE

HY-TEC From Hycor: Hycor Biomedical Inc., is looking to Europe for sales of its newest instrument, a machine that can detect about 300 different allergies.

The HY-TEC machine, used in diagnostic laboratories, is the first fully automated allergy diagnostic system in the world, said Chief Executive Richard Hamill. Hycor hopes that the HY-TEC, developed in a joint agreement with Swiss-based medical instrument maker Tecan AG, will compete successfully with a similar allergy tester made by Swedish drug giant Kabi Pharmacia.

“Obviously, they dominate the market,” Hamill said. “But we think (HY-TEC) is unique enough to be very competitive.”

Why Europe? Well, the machine isn’t licensed in the United States. Gaining health departments’ approval in Europe was easier than getting it from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Hamill.

Irvine-based Hycor also believes the European market for the product is about four times larger than the U.S. market--$120 million compared with $30 million--partly because insurance and government reimbursements for such tests in Europe are easier to obtain, while such diagnostic procedures are not always accepted by U.S. insurers.

Hamill said his firm expects to ship orders to Europe by January. The company was part of a medical trade fair last week in Dusseldorf, Germany. It is attending another in Milan, Italy, this week.

Hycor expects, however, to file an application with the FDA early next year. The HY-TEC system would run about $72,000 a unit in the United States.