« View all entries in Press Releases
6/21/2011 Tethys Announces Data Presentations on PreDx® DRS at 2011 American Diabetes Association Sessions
June 21, 2011 — EMERYVILLE, CA — Tethys Bioscience, Inc. announces that data from two studies of the company’s PreDx® Diabetes Risk Score (DRS) will be presented in poster sessions at the upcoming American Diabetes Association 71st Scientific Sessions to be held June 24-28, 2011 in San Diego.
Saturday, June 25th: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm PDT, Hall B
Abstract number 829-P
Poster-22: Psychosocial-Behavioral Medicine (session code PO44)
“Changes and Correlations with PreDx® Diabetes Risk Score Following Brief Residential Behavioral Weight Loss” will be presented by Jennifer Pells, PhD, Program Facilitator, Structure House (Durham, NC).
Sunday, June 26th: 12 noon – 2:00 pm PDT, Hall B
Abstract number 1331-P
Poster-09: Epidemiology (session code PO13)
“Changes in a Diabetes Risk Score Due to Intensive Lifestyle Intervention in the European Diabetes Prevention Study (EDIPS)” will be presented by Professor Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD, PhD, University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland).
About Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major public health epidemic. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects nearly 26 million people in the United States or 8.3% of the population. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of mortality in the US, a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and the leading cause of kidney failure, nontraumatic lower-limb amputations and new cases of blindness among adults in the US. The direct and indirect costs of diabetes in the U.S. exceeded $174 billion in 2007, including $58 billion in indirect costs (disability, work loss, premature mortality). Medical expenditures for people with diabetes are more than two times higher than for people without diabetes. Worldwide, in 2000, diabetes affected an estimated 171 million people and this figure is projected to rise to 366 million by 2030, propelled by increases in age, obesity, and urbanization of the world’s population.
In 2005 — 2008, based on fasting glucose or A1c levels, 35% of US adults aged 20 years or older had prediabetes (50% of those aged 65 years or older), In 2010, it is estimated that 79 million Americans aged 20 years or older had prediabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large prevention study of people at high risk for diabetes, showed that lifestyle intervention to lose weight and increase physical activity reduced the development of type 2 diabetes by 58% during a 3-year period. The reduction was even greater, 71%, among adults aged 60 years or older.
About PreDx® Diabetes Risk Score
The PreDx Diabetes Risk Score (DRS) provides enhanced risk stratification through the measurement of multiple biomarkers linked to pathways of diabetes progression. PreDx DRS was developed using a unique approach to quantifying biomarkers suspected of playing roles in diabetes development. Tethys methodology enabled evaluation of many biomarkers utilizing very small amounts of blood from select and well-characterized large study cohorts with known diabetes outcomes. The company then determined the combination of these biomarkers with an algorithm that best identified an individual’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes within five years. PreDx DRS has been validated by the Tethys Clinical Laboratory (TCL) in several large populations. The test uses standard immunoassay and clinical chemistry formats, sample collection and shipment methods. Currently performed exclusively by the CLIA-certified TCL, the test generates a Diabetes Risk Score between 1 and 10 that corresponds to an absolute percentage risk of developing disease.
About Tethys
Tethys is a cardiometabolic diagnostics company that creates and commercializes breakthrough biomarker-based blood tests that predict imminent disease risk and enable targeted intervention to preempt the onset of chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Tethys introduced its first product—PreDx® Diabetes Risk Score—to the market in 2008, and initiated sales in 2009. The Tethys PreDx DRS platform includes products in development to determine risk for first-time heart attack, osteoporotic fracture and other cardiometabolic diseases with the goal of improving health outcomes and reducing the devastating economic impact that debilitating, preventable diseases have on individuals and society. For more information about Tethys and PreDx DRS, please visit www.tethysbio.com.
