Pregnancy Detection Kit Also Alerts Mothers to Abnormality Problems : SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY

New drugs and clinical tests are being developed to meet the changing needs and life styles of U.S. consumers.

A subsidiary of Nichols Institute, a San Juan Capistrano-based medical research firm, has begun marketing a new pregnancy detection kit that also can detect abnormalities that are becoming more prevalent as women delay childbirth until later in life. Frank Taylor, senior vice president and general manager of Nichols Institute Diagnostics, a subsidiary, said the test kit makes precise measurements of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone emitted by the tissues of pregnant women. Unlike less sophisticated hormone measuring kits sold in drugstores for home use, he said, Nichols’ new Allegro HCG Immunoassay System is intended to be administered only in doctors’ offices and clinical laboratories.