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Atherotech Files Patent Application for Enhanced Cholesterol Test Technology

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 09:00 CST

Atherotech, Inc., a pioneer in cardiodiagnostic technology, today announced that it has filed a patent application for a technology improvement that further refines the performance of the company's next-generation VAP(R) Cholesterol Test. The patent application covers a new computational methodology used to develop values for total cholesterol and cholesterol subclasses within the VAP Test profile, resulting in enhanced accuracy, processing speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

The VAP Test is the first cholesterol test to meet the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Recommendation for Lipoprotein Measurement -- providing a more accurate, directly measured low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol number. The test complies with NCEP Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) guidelines, measuring a range of cholesterol components and subclasses that play a significant role in the development and therapeutic management of heart disease. The patent was filed with assistance from the business law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. Atherotech has two additional patents related to the VAP Test, which it has held for more than seven years.

According to Roseanne Varner, Atherotech's president and chief executive officer, the routine cholesterol test, which estimates LDL cholesterol, has increasingly come under scrutiny for its lack of accuracy, especially when patient triglycerides are elevated and for measuring LDL values below 100 mg/dL.

"The NCEP has identified the need for more accurate LDL readings and the measurement of additional cholesterol factors that improve risk assessment and promote more aggressive therapy for patients at risk for heart disease," Varner said. "The important technology advances covered by this patent make use of the additional power of today's computers to perform computations that were beyond the capability of older-generation systems. The result is a more robust VAP Test, providing physicians with a more accurate, comprehensive, and affordable coronary heart disease risk assessment for their patients."

About the VAP Cholesterol Test

The VAP Cholesterol Test achieves compliance with NCEP ATP III guidelines by directly measuring all primary, secondary, and emerging cholesterol risk factors. As a result, it identifies more than 90 percent of people at risk for heart disease, compared with just 40 percent with the routine cholesterol test. The VAP Test is available nationwide through national and regional diagnostic laboratories and is reimbursed by most payors, including Medicare. Samples are processed in Atherotech's state-of-the-art laboratory in Birmingham.

About Atherotech

Atherotech is dedicated to improving the early diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases that kill nearly 1 million Americans each year. Atherotech's VAP Test, the new standard of care in cholesterol risk assessment, was named one of "five tests worth paying for" by The Wall Street Journal. In addition, Forbes.com selected the VAP Test as one of "ten ways to live longer." For more information, visit www.thevaptest.com.

Note to editors: For additional information or a photo of Atherotech's Birmingham laboratory, please call Barbara Sullivan at 714/374-6174.

Source: Business Wire

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