A new test from Tethys Bioscience in Emeryville, CA is changing the way doctors treat people with pre diabetes, according to a recent article from Technology Review.
Currently, there are 57 million people in the United States with pre diabetes. The condition often leads to Type 2 diabetes unless dramatic dietary and lifestyle changes are implemented. PreDx, a blood test, can assess an individual’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the next five years.
Patients taking the test receive their results in a color-coded chart. Low risk is green, yellow is moderate and red is high. They also receive a number between 1 and 10, with 10 indicating the greatest risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
There are currently other tests, but they are often much more expensive than the $250 PreDx test and more time consuming. The company developed the test by looking at blood samples from patients in long-term studies with known outcomes and testing them for many different diabetes markets, such as protein combinations. They then developed an algorithm based on seven proteins and metabolites present in the blood. The test has been used at least 12,000 times since 2008.
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