ASX Health Stocks: Proteomics’ blood test and Canagliflozin double-teaming diabetes

Research has shown the value of Proteomics’ diabetic kidney disease risk blood test – and the effectiveness of a drug used to treat the illness.

Blood can offer a red alert to potential diabetic kidney risk. And the drug Canagliflozin lowers that peril, a study using Proteomics PromarkerD test has found. Picture: Getty Images

Research has shown the value of Proteomics’ (ASX:PIQ) diabetic kidney disease risk blood test – and the effectiveness of a drug used to treat the disease.

PromarkerD can provide a score of risk of the disease, even among patients who are asymptomatic.

The study also discovered that the drug Canagliflozin lowers the PromarkerD diabetic kidney disease risk prediction scores.

PromarkerD is a newly-developed blood test that can predict diabetic kidney disease before clinical symptoms appear, helping doctors make treatment decisions and improving outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes.

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The latest study, conducted with Janssen Research & Development, looked at PromarkerD results of patients taking diabetes medication Canagliflozin.

It involved 2000 participants, and found a significant reduction in the PromarkerD risk scores in those who took the medication compared to placebo.

This effect was greatest in participants predicted by PromarkerD to be at high-risk of a decline in kidney function at the start of the study.

Proteomics’ CEO Dr Richard Lipscombe said the findings illustrated the benefits of using PromarkerD testing to identify patients who were asymptomatic for diabetic kidney disease but still at high risk of developing the disease.

They also showed that Canagliflozin significantly lowered their risk of developing diabetic kidney disease.

“It’s an elegant example of using precision medicine to enable early intervention and slow or stop the onset of disease,” said Lipscombe.

The research was published as a feature article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Medicine.

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Artrya lodges submission with US FDA

Med tech company Artrya (ASX:AYA) announced important progress today in its pursuit of US FDA regulatory approval for the Salix Coronary Anatomy (SCA) product.

The company said a Q-Submission (Q-Sub) had been lodged with the FDA, and it expected to meet with the regulator within 9 to 12 weeks.

The Q-Sub meeting is an important part of the FDA process at which Artrya will present its approach to software development and clinical reader study design to get FDA agreement on how the product is being developed.

“This feedback can save critical time and money during the FDA regulatory process,” said Artyra CEO, Mathew Regan.

“Since Artrya redefined our FDA regulatory strategy in quarter one, the team has worked hard to get us to this point.”

The Salix Coronary Anatomy is a web-based software tool that is intended to be used by medical professionals for viewing and analysing cardiac computed tomography (CT) data.

The tool is used for determining the presence and extent of coronary plaques (i.e., atherosclerosis) and stenosis, and quantifying calcifications (calcium scoring) in patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for evaluation of coronary artery disease.

The company expects the final 510(k) application will be able to be submitted to the FDA by the end of October, which is in line with previous advice to the market.

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UBI launches blood glucose monitoring for pets

Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) has launched the PETRACKR blood glucose monitoring product for dogs and cats with diabetes.

To coincide with the launch, UBI announced it had signed three distribution partnerships in the US and Canada, and had received initial purchase orders of around $280,000.

It said 10,000 PETRACKR analysers and 375,000 diabetes test strips had been delivered or were in transit to UBI warehouses in the US and Europe.

UBI expects to announce first sales to additional distribution partners over the coming 6-8 weeks with multiple deals in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific in the final stages of negotiation and documentation.

The company said first year sales from these three deals were expected to exceed $2 million, with further sales growth anticipated in the following years.

Blood glucose monitoring in companion animals (dogs and cats) with diabetes is a growing market and is estimated to be worth $270 million a year.

Glucose test strip volumes are estimated to be about $150 million per annum, and device volumes in the order of $1 million per annum.

“The market is growing at 12 per cent per annum largely because of increasing pet adoption, and increasing rates of obesity in pets globally,” said UBI CEO, John Sharman.

This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au

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