Autoimmune Diseases
A New Kit for Prediction and Prevention of Diabetes-Related Complications
A test method based on a genetic polymorphism in the Haptoglobin gene identifies those individuals with Diabetes who are at high risk for developing heart, eye and kidney disease and who benefit from specific drug treatments, has been validated in multiple clinical trials worldwide.
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in the world. Around 350 million people worldwide have diabetes, with the incidence increasing at an epidemic rate. 70-80% of all individuals with Diabetes will die prematurely (average of 20-25 years earlier) due to heart and kidney disease. Health care costs for treating vascular complications of Diabetes are over $200 billion annually in the USA alone.
Prof. Andrew Levy, a member of the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences at the Technion, and his research team have developed a novel test method for identifying high-risk diabetic patients, which is based on the hemoglobin-binding protein, haptoglobin. The test has been validated in over 20,000 diabetic patients worldwide, and the results of this testing have been published in the some of the most respected peer-reviewed medical journals. The value of the test is its ability to identify those diabetic patients who should be treated aggressively with regard to the management of their blood sugar and lipid (cholesterol) levels, and high blood pressure and its ability to determine which individuals might benefit from a specific genetically tailored drug.
The Haptoglobin kit is already licensed in Spain and Portugal. BioRap is looking to license its Haptoglobin kit worldwide.
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Inventor - Professor Andrew P. Levy
The risk of coronary heart disease associated with glycosylated Hemoglobin of 6.5% or greater is pronounced in the Haptoglobin 2-2 Genotype