A blood-monitoring device just for pets

February 22, 2006 10:36 AM PST
c|net News.com
By Leslie Katz

Dogs and cats get diabetes too. Now, Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories
[http://www.abbott.com] has come out with a product aimed at helping
the afflicted
pets--the AlphaTrak, a handheld blood glucose monitoring system
designed specifically
for diabetic cats and dogs. The device allows veterinarians and pet
owners to test pets'
blood sugar rapidly, conveniently and accurately using a small blood
sample.

Until now, handheld blood glucose meters designed for humans were
commonly used to
test the blood glucose levels of pets outside of the laboratory. But
due to physiological
differences between human and animal blood, these meters can provide
inaccurate
information when measuring blood glucose levels in cats and dogs, says
Abbott.

As many as one in every 200 dogs and one in every 400 cats suffer from
diabetes mellitus,
according to Abbott, which displayed the AlphaTrak on Tuesday at the
78th Annual
Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. Like humans, these animals
are susceptible
to both Type I diabetes, or the inability to produce insulin, and Type
II diabetes, an
insensitivity to insulin. Type I is more prevalent among dogs and Type
II is more common
in cats, but regardless of type, pets with these diseases typically
require daily injections of
insulin to metabolize dietary glucose.

Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is one of the biggest health risks
facing diabetic pets,
said Dr. Susan Sallee, a veterinarian at Grayslake Animal Hospital in
Grayslake, Ill., one of
the participating AlphaTrak clinical trial sites. "Determining your
diabetic pets' blood
glucose profile is a common way to gauge the effects of insulin
treatment, diet, and
exercise," she said. "However, these factors are constantly fluctuating
in a pet, making
accurate blood glucose monitoring absolutely essential.

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Source: http://news.com.com/2061-10801_3-6042004.html

---

ABBOTT LAUNCHES FIRST COMPLETE BLOOD GLUCOSE MONITORING SYSTEM DESIGNED
FOR DIABETIC CATS AND DOGS

-ALPHATRAKTM METER CALIBRATED ESPECIALLY FOR UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF
ANIMAL
BLOOD; PROVIDES CONVENIENT, ACCURATE BLOOD GLUCOSE RESULTS FOR VETS AND
PET
OWNERS-

Las Vegas, Nevada, February 21, 2006 - Today at the 78th Annual Western
Veterinary
Conference, Abbott announced the launch of the AlphaTRAKTM, the first
complete hand-
held blood glucose monitoring system designed specifically for diabetic
cats and dogs.
The AlphaTRAK allows veterinarians and pet owners to test pets' blood
sugar rapidly,
conveniently and accurately with a very small blood sample, without
relying on blood
glucose meters designed for humans, which can produce widely variable
and inaccurate
results in pets. In head-to-head clinical evaluation, human glucose
meter use in diabetic
cats and dogs resulted in measurements that were off by as much as 39
percent compared
to lab testing and the AlphaTRAK meter.

"This is an important step forward for blood glucose testing of
diabetic dogs and cats,"
said Dr. Susan Sallee, a veterinarian at Grayslake Animal Hospital in
Grayslake, Illinois, one
of the participating AlphaTRAK clinical trial sites. "While some larger
veterinary clinics do
have onsite general chemistry instruments for blood analysis, many do
not, and using
human meters to test pets is often one of the only options many vets
and pet owners have
for immediate results. But those results can be deceptive, and it's
critical that we be as
accurate as possible to avoid hypoglycemia and other dangerous blood
glucose
complications."

As many as one in every 200 dogs and one in every 400 cats suffer from
diabetes mellitus.
Like humans, these animals are susceptible to both Type I diabetes, or
the inability to
produce insulin, and Type II diabetes, an insensitivity to insulin.
However, Type I is more
prevalent among dogs and Type II is more common in cats. Regardless, of
type, pets with
these diseases typically require daily injections of insulin to
metabolize dietary glucose.

Until now, one of the most common ways to test the blood glucose levels
of pets outside
of the laboratory was to use hand-held blood glucose meters designed
for humans.
However, these meters can provide inaccurate information when measuring
whole blood
glucose levels in cats and dogs. At the root of the problem are the
physiological
differences between human and animal blood.

Hand-held glucose meters measure glucose in the entire blood sample --
glucose that is
present in the plasma and the red blood cells (RBCs). The glucose from
the RBCs
equilibrates with the glucose from the plasma portion as the test is
being performed.
However, in cats and dogs, the distribution of glucose between the RBCs
and plasma is
significantly different than in humans. This causes the meters that are
calibrated to human
blood to read low. The AlphaTRAK glucose monitor has been developed to
account for
these differences in RBCs, thus providing extremely accurate glucose
results.

The AlphaTRAK will be available to veterinarians beginning in March,
and available to pet
owners for in-home use through their veterinarians.

As Accurate as "Gold Standard" Reference Lab Test in Clinical Trial
In a head-to-head clinical evaluation, the AlphaTRAK was compared to
two human glucose
meters as well as against the Antech Laboratories reference laboratory
test, which is
considered the "gold standard" for animal blood glucose testing. Blood
samples were
taken from 452 diabetic and non-diabetic dogs and cats. These samples
were tested with
AlphaTRAK, the two human glucose monitors, and the Antech lab test.

On average, AlphaTRAK provided results that were statistically
equivalent (+1%) to the
Antech results, while the two human hand-held glucose meters produced
results that
differed by as much as 39 percent compared to the Antech results.

"Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is one of the biggest health risks
facing diabetic pets,"
said Dr. Sallee. "Determining your diabetic pets' blood glucose profile
is a common way to
gauge the effects of insulin treatment, diet, and exercise. However,
these factors are
constantly fluctuating in a pet, making accurate blood glucose
monitoring absolutely
essential."

About Abbott
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the
discovery,
development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical
products,
including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs
60,000 people and
markets its products in more than 130 countries.

###

Source: http://www.abbott.com/news/press_release.cfm?id=1062