The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted Epinex Diagnostics the patent for its primary technology, the G1A? Rapid Diabetes Monitoring Index Test. The patent is for the first ever rapid glycated albumin test and instrument, which could redefine the way diabetes is monitored for over 250 million diabetics worldwide.
The G1A test provides a monthly diabetes-monitoring index by measuring damage caused by excess sugar to albumin, the most abundant serum protein. Albumin is an ideal monthly marker as it is replaced in the body every 2-3 weeks. Using only a pinprick of blood, the test will simultaneously and rapidly measure glycated albumin and total albumin. Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have described glycated albumin as a "more robust" and "more accurate" indicator of long-term glycemic control.
There is an unmet need for a better test to monitor diabetes. Diabetics currently monitor themselves with multiple daily blood glucose tests, and HbA1c testing every 4-6 months. Scientific studies have demonstrated that current monitoring methods for type 2 diabetics (95% of all diabetics), are ineffective due to low compliance rates, physiological interference with accuracy, and delayed time frames for therapeutic interventions.
The innovative G1A? test is unaffected by the factors that render current monitoring methods inadequate. Epinex’s ground-breaking patent is the first step in establishing a new standard of care for diabetes, providing a monthly measurement of the protein damage that causes diabetes complications such as blindness, kidney failure, and heart disease. "Doctors will no longer have to wait 4-6 months to see if treatments are working," explains Asad Zaidi, Epinex’s CEO. "The G1A? test will allow doctors and patients to adjust their therapeutic and lifestyle interventions on a monthly basis instead."
Source: Epinex Diagnostics
