Metabolon, Geisinger Partner on Prediabetes Study
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The study, which will monitor prediabetic subjects using Quantose IR, hemoglobin A1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) results over a 12-week period, will be conducted by the Cardiovascular Center for Clinical Research at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA. Study participants will be on a regimen of metformin, diet and exercise.
“As a physician, being able to identify which patients with prediabetes are at greatest risk for developing type 2 diabetes and which are at lowest risk would be extraordinarily helpful,” commented Peter Berger, M.D., chair of cardiology, study investigator and director of the Cardiovascular Center for Clinical Research at Geisinger. “Diabetes affects nearly 900,000 adults in Pennsylvania, which is nine percent of the population. There are three times as many adults with prediabetes; that’s 2.7 million people! Many will progress to full-blown diabetes, so we are eager to explore the use of a new test that may help us identify which patients need the most aggressive therapy to prevent the development of diabetes and which are at lowest risk and need less aggressive therapy.”
Quantose IR is a convenient, cost-effective test that requires only a single fasting blood sample. The test measures the blood concentration levels of specific metabolites that reflect insulin resistance, an early indication of prediabetes.
“We are pleased to work with Dr. Berger’s research team at Geisinger and hope this collaboration is the beginning of an ongoing partnership,” said John Ryals, Ph.D., president and CEO of Metabolon. “This study is important because it has the potential to document the effectiveness of Quantose IR as a monitor for prediabetes therapy. Our goal is to provide physicians with a new tool that can track changes in insulin resistance that may be missed by other glycemic tests such as fasting plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c.”
The vast majority of people with prediabetes don’t know they have it. A person with prediabetes has a blood sugar level higher than normal, but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. If left untreated, individuals with prediabetes are at higher risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes, for which there is no cure. Research has shown that many of the complications associated with diabetes are already developing during the prediabetes phase. Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation.
