Reported November 2007

BACKGROUND: A company called VeraLight has developed an innovative screening tool for Type II diabetes. Called the Scout, it employs fluorescence spectroscopy to non-invasively measure biomarkers in the top layer of skin of a subject’s forearm. Unusually high concentrations of this important biomarker, advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), are indicative of diabetes. A preliminary study demonstrated that the technology was able to identify 20 percent more Type II diabetes patients than conventional methods.

BENEFITS: Current screening methods for diabetes are grossly inadequate. As many as 50 percent of diabetics are not diagnosed until the disease is advanced, with one or more often irreversible complications. A more accurate and convenient screening method could dramatically reduce the costs and health risks associated with those complications, allowing patients to halt or even reverse the progression of the disease if it is caught early enough. Until the advent of Scout, a skin biopsy was the only way to detect AGEs, which made the method impractical for clinical use. Scout measurements can be made any time of the day because fasting is not required. It takes less than 60 seconds to produce a result. Clinical trials are currently underway.

HOW IT WORKS: Scout weighs a mere 10 pounds. The subject inserts the palm-side of the forearm into the system, which looks like a drugstore blood pressure monitor. The Scout shines various wavelengths of light onto the skin to stimulate fluorescence, and after one minute, the resulting glow is statistically analyzed to indicate the risk of diabetes based on the presence of AGEs. To ensure accurate results, the instrument adjusts automatically to take skin pigmentation into account.

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The Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

If you would like more information, please contact:

David VanAvermaete, CEO
VeraLight
(505) 272-7468
David.Vanavermaete@veralight.com

Optical Society of America
Washington, DC 20036-1023
(202) 223-8130
info@osa.org

DID YOU KNOW?

More than 73 million Americans, one third of the adult population, now have diabetes or may be developing the disease. About 10% of all national health care expenditures (over $130 billion in 2002) stem from the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

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