Peer Review: Accuracy of At-Home Celiac Disease Blood Testing Platform
- PR NewsWire 1
imaware™ is the first at-home blood-testing platform to validate and share its data with consumers and medical professionals. imaware offers at-home tests for Celiac Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis, with cardiovascular health, liver disease and prostate health tests launching later this year. The company’s published results in CCLM can be found here.
“At-home testing is a valuable way for consumers to be empowered in earlier screening and treatment of chronic and autoimmune diseases, said Jani Tuomi, cofounder, imaware. “The missing piece in at-home testing has been transparency in how the tests work and their accuracy. Today marks a major step forward for consumer advocacy by making our small-volume testing platform the first to be reviewed and endorsed by the scientific community.”
“imaware is the first direct-to-consumer company to have built a small-sample volume platform that is as reliable as traditional lab testing, enabling consumers to test from the comfort of their own home and engage their doctors sooner for diagnosis,” said Dr. Diamandis, imaware medical advisor and Division Head of Clinical Biochemistry, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System. “They are also the only small-volume testing company to have their test and data validated in a peer reviewed journal publication.”
imaware is the leading at-home blood testing platform for patients to conduct their own screening. The company uses a proven microarray testing platform commonly used in research and laboratory settings that is designed for sample sizes of just 50-100 microLiters of blood. By pricking their finger, people collect the blood at home in a small vial and send it to imaware for testing. Testing is conducted on imaware platforms at CLIA-certified partner laboratories located in Missouri and Texas. The results are then shared in a secure and private online portal with additional resources and access to local medical professionals.
“imaware has combined small-volume blood testing, multiple biomarker multiplexing, and big data to truly help identify disease before symptoms show,” said Dr. Margaret Spitz, imaware medical advisor and professor in the NCI-designated Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine, and a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) appointed by President Barack Obama. “In my opinion this is the start of true proactive healthcare.”
“The imaware at-home screening test for celiac disease is the first to combine four biomarkers into one test and provide results within several days that patients can then share with their doctors,” said Dr. Guandalini, imaware medical advisor and Professor Emeritus and Founder, University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center. “This should help reduce the significant number of undiagnosed patients with celiac disease. The validity of the test is supported by specific data that have been recently published in a leading clinical chemistry journal after successfully undergoing a peer review process.”
The company designed its platform with leading medical advisors and has partnered with world-renowned research and treatment facilities to improve chronic illness and disease screening and diagnosis. imaware patient advocacy partners include the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation and Beyond Celiac.
How the imaware™ test works
All tests use a small amount of blood obtained through a finger prick and collected in a vial. People mail in the sample and within five days receive their confidential test results via a secure online portal. Multiple biomarkers commonly associated with chronic illnesses such as Celiac Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis are measured. The imaware™ tests are currently available in the United States.
About imaware™
The imaware mission is to provide patients with the tools to drive awareness to chronic illness and empower patients to live a better and healthier life – sooner. Each imaware test is designed and validated alongside world-renowned doctors from the most prestigious medical research facilities including Dr. Timothy Niewold, Director of the NYU Colton Center for Autoimmunity, Dr. Kevin Deane, Endowed Chair for Rheumatology Research, University of Colorado Denver, Dr. Stefano Guandalini of the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, Dr. Margaret Spitz and Dr. Melissa Bondy of the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Michael Davidson, Director of the Lipid Clinic, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. For more information, visit imaware.health
