Atherotech, GlycoMark announce industry-first collaboration

Partnership brings diabetes and cardiovascular testing companies together at 2011 American Diabetes Association Annual Meeting

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., and WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 23, 2011 – An industry-first collaboration is bringing together cardiovascular testing company Atherotech Diagnostics Lab and diabetes testing company GlycoMark. The collaboration calls for the two companies to jointly commercialize the VAP® (Vertical Auto Profile) Cholesterol Test with the GlycoMark® diabetes test.

"The diabetes and cardiodiagnostic worlds are like two different planets, and they really haven’t communicated all that well," said GlycoMark President Eric A. Button. "This is the first time these two worlds have come together on the diagnostics front in a significant way."

The two companies are co-exhibiting in GlycoMark’s booth #2133 at the 2011 American Diabetes Association's (ADA) 71st Scientific Sessions June 24–28 in San Diego.

The VAP Test is the only expanded lipid test that routinely reports directly measured LDLc, which is included in the 22 reported cholesterol components — all at no additional cost. The VAP Test also identifies markers of metabolic syndrome, often associated with early diabetes.

GlycoMark is a simple blood test used to measure after-meal glucose control in patients with diabetes. GlycoMark can accurately reveal potentially dangerous postprandial fluctuations in blood sugar — associated with the cardiovascular complications of diabetes — that are undetectable by other means, including the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test.

"Just as standard lipid tests miss more than half of all patients at risk for heart disease, HbA1c misses dangerous glucose swings in about 40 percent of Type 2 diabetes patients," said Atherotech Diagnostics Lab Chief Medical Officer Michael E. Cobble, M.D. "With diabetes now recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, it’s time to recognize the value of well-validated clinical tests to more effectively monitor and treat these two disease states."

The widely-used HbA1c test measures average glucose levels over a two- to three-month period. GlycoMark provides a much more sensitive measure of variation over a one- to two-week period, thus indicating if blood glucose variability that comprises the average is minimal or extreme and whether treatment changes are indicated.

The GlycoMark test has proven particularly effective in patients with HbA1c values of less than eight percent — that is, those whose blood sugars were previously thought to be nearing or in control. GlycoMark is the only blood test proven to detect glycemic variability and hyperglycemic episodes in moderately controlled patients who have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which affect more than 245 million adults and children worldwide.

"As a diabetologist, I routinely use GlycoMark to provide both the patient and me information we can't get from HbA1c alone," said Irl B. Hirsch, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. "Patients appreciate the ability to better understand the ‘quality’ of their HbA1c."

GlycoMark is an FDA approved test for monitoring intermediate glycemic control by measuring the levels of a monosaccharide 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5- AG) in blood. GlycoMark is being used in clinical practices nationwide and is now also available through Atherotech Diagnostics Lab. The test is also available at most major contract research organizations for pharmaceutical research studies.

Cholesterol components reported by the VAP Test include Lp(a), apoB, apoA1, and the apoB/apoA1 ratio, making the VAP Test the only lipid profile that routinely reports all three lipid parameters — LDL, non-HDL and apoB — considered necessary by the ADA and the AmericanCollege of Cardiology. Get updates throughout the conference by following Atherotech on Twitter: @Atherotech.

Atherotech is a CLIA-certified clinical reference laboratory and cardiodiagnostic company focusing on cardiometabolic tests, including the company’s patented VAP Cholesterol Test, which reports the cholesterol content of all lipids, components and subclasses. The VAP Test is the first cholesterol profile to comply with updated National Cholesterol Education Program ATP III recommendations for direct LDL measurement, which is accurate with non-fasting samples. The VAP Test is available through national and regional diagnostic laboratories and is reimbursed by many of the largest private insurers as well as Medicare.    

GlycoMark Inc. is a joint venture by Toyota Tsusho America Inc. (New York, N.Y.), Nippon Kayaku (Tokyo, Japan) and Eric Button. Located in Winston-Salem, N.C., GlycoMark Inc. is dedicated to the discovery and commercialization of novel biomarkers for diabetes.