NEW YORK – Australian diagnostics firm Proteomics International Laboratories announced on Wednesday that Sonic Healthcare USA has exclusively licensed the PromarkerD diabetic kidney disease test for commercialization in the US.
Under the agreement, Sonic Healthcare USA, a division of Australia's Sonic Healthcare, will offer the blood test to physicians and healthcare systems across the US. The assay measures three serum protein biomarkers and three clinical variables — age, HDL cholesterol, and estimated glomerular filtration rate — to predict future kidney function decline in patients with type 2 diabetes, Perth, Australia-based Proteomics International said in a statement. A cloud-based algorithm then combines the results into a patient risk report.
In clinical studies, the test correctly predicted up to 86 percent of otherwise healthy diabetics who developed kidney disease within four years, the company said.
"Our goal of this partnership is to offer PromarkerD as a predictive test that will enable clinicians to identify which patients with type 2 diabetes are at risk of developing kidney disease," Sonic Healthcare USA Chief Medical Officer Mohamed Salama said in a statement. "The PromarkerD test is an important prognostic tool that will substantially advance diagnostic offerings for the diabetic population."