ANTECH Diagnostics, part of the MARS Veterinary Health Project, has released new data from a retrospective study of 730,000 veterinarian visits showing that all cats receiving improved preventive care following positive or negative RenalTech™ can pr...
ANTECH Diagnostics, part of the MARS Veterinary Health Project, has released new data from a retrospective study of 730,000 veterinarian visits showing that all cats receiving improved preventive care following positive or negative RenalTech™ can predict the onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats 2 years before onset. Data shows that predictive diagnostic tools increase veterinary visits by 31%. Additionally, pet owners actively seek early intervention related to CKD, including food and medications.
These findings support the value of RenalTech as a veterinary diagnostic tool designed to improve overall feline health while also positively impacting the health of cats facing CKD. "With appropriate medical management, cats with chronic kidney disease can survive for a long time and maintain a good quality of life," said Dr. Jonathan Elliott, professor of veterinary clinical pharmacology at the Royal Veterinary College in London. "However, it's long-term problems in cats that always bring them through the door, and for cats with CKD, it's important to diagnose them early so that early care strategies can have an impact. With recent developments in diagnostic testing and methods to leverage the data we collect from routine geriatric health screening, we now have a very real opportunity to impact access to preventive care for all cats and improve access to preventive care for all cats facing and living with CKD duration of good quality of life for cats.”
One in three cats will develop CKD during their lifetime. Diagnostics that move beyond early diagnosis to disease prediction allow veterinarians to begin monitoring and treating CKD when it is detected early, leading to the most effective interventions at this stage. As the first predictive diagnostic tool for veterinarians, RenalTech combines artificial intelligence and machine learning with 20 years of data from more than 150,000 cats to predict with 95% accuracy whether a cat will develop CKD within 2 years. In a one-year retrospective analysis of the impact of RenalTech on preventive care practices, researchers found that regardless of a cat's positive or negative status, the use of RenalTech alone created opportunities for:
Early interventions to delay the onset and progression of CKD - Pet owners with RenalTech-positive cats proactively sought out proven early care strategies for CKD: 31.5% purchased a renal therapy diet compared with 4.8% for all other cats, and 41% purchased a diet related to CKD-related medications compared to 26.3% of all other cats.
Improved preventive care for all cats – All cats, regardless of RenalTech status, receive improved, ongoing veterinary care. Visits to RenalTech negative cats increased 14% year over year, while visits to RenalTech positive cats increased 31%.
"Cats don't like going to the veterinarian, and for decades, this simple fact has limited their access to preventive care," said Dr. Jennifer Ogeer, vice president of medical affairs and commercial marketing. "We now know that early warning of disease is a very powerful motivator for owners, who will naturally respond to the opportunity to proactively treat CKD. But perhaps more importantly, we also know from the data that using RenalTech alone will improve access to preventive care for all cats, regardless of status. In that sense, like RenalTech itself, these data are another first for veterinary medicine."
Targeting the opportunity to treat CKD before it occurs, Antech Also offers veterinary medicine's only complete disease prediction, early diagnosis, staging and monitoring solution. The diagnostics portfolio includes RenalTech as well as SDMA™ (symmetric dimethylarginine), a renal biomarker for CKD. Combined, these advanced diagnostic methods provide veterinarians with a unique opportunity to support the best prospects for cats facing disease.
"RenalTech brings tremendous added value to our patients and customers," said John Faught, DVM, chief medical officer at Firehouse Animal Health Center in Austin, Texas. "At Firehouse Animal Health Center, we have long utilized routine laboratory work to assess patients' changing function. By assessing these trends and spot checks, we hope to make a difference early in the disease or aging process. However, never before have we been able to use these values to actually predict the future of our pets' health. RenalTech combines Antech's advanced laboratory testing with innovative statistical data analysis to deliver truly preventive medicine, not reactionary."
