RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ — LipoScience, Inc. today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp(R)) , a leading national clinical laboratory, to offer its proprietary NMR LipoProfile(R) test.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050803/CLW005 )
LabCorp serves more than 220,000 physicians, government agencies, managed care organizations, hospitals, clinical labs, and pharmaceutical companies, providing a greatly expanded market for the patented LipoScience test.
This multi-year agreement will make the NMR LipoProfile test readily available through LabCorp’s sales and distribution network and will add an important cardiovascular test to LabCorp’s comprehensive menu of testing services.
The NMR LipoProfile test is a blood test which has been shown in numerous clinical studies to be superior to LDL-cholesterol in predicting coronary heart disease (CHD) events.
Unlike traditional cholesterol tests or lipid panels, the NMR LipoProfile test uses NMR spectroscopy to measure the actual number of atherogenic LDL particles that build up in the arteries and cause heart disease. Physicians have traditionally estimated the number of particles by measuring the cholesterol they contain – known as LDL cholesterol (or LDL-C).
Patients with a high number of LDL particles (LDL-P) are at increased risk for heart disease, even if they have “normal” cholesterol levels. By knowing how many of these particles are circulating in the blood, a physician can get a more accurate picture of a patient’s heart health and, therefore make better patient care decisions.
“Entering into this agreement with LabCorp accelerates our strategy of making our technology available for broad use in clinical laboratories worldwide,” said Richard O. Brajer, President and CEO, LipoScience, Inc.
Brajer added, “Clinicians increasingly understand the need to go beyond cholesterol measurement in assessing risk for heart disease and monitoring response to therapy. This relationship with LabCorp will help address that need.”
About LipoScience
Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., LipoScience develops and markets new clinical applications of NMR spectroscopy in the areas of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders. Its flagship product, the NMR LipoProfile blood test, was introduced for clinical research in 1997 and for use in patient care in 1999.
Results previously reported from the Cardiovascular Health Study, Women’s Health Study, PLAC-1 and VA-HIT, among others, have all shown that numbers of atherogenic LDL particles to be more predictive of coronary heart disease events than LDL cholesterol. Further information is available on the company’s Web site: http://www.liposcience.com/.
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LipoScience, Inc.
CONTACT: Michelle Turenne of LipoScience, Inc., +1-919-256-1306, [email protected]
Web site: http://www.liposcience.com/
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