HORIBA to Ensure More Reliable and Safe Pet Healthcare with Its New Blood Glucose Meter that is Fast, Accurate and Requires Only a Tiny Blood Sample
On January 4, HORIBA plans to launch "ANTSENSE III VET" on the Japanese market, the first blood glucose meter for animals approved by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.
With more and more pets living longer and kept indoors, the number of pets suffering from diabetes and other "lifestyle-related diseases" is on the increase. Meanwhile, there have been no devices designed for quickly and accurately checking pet blood glucose level with a small blood sample, despite the growing need for such devices among animal medical care providers. As a substitute, scientific analyzing instruments or blood glucose self-monitoring devices for humans have been used to check animal blood glucose levels. Against that background, HORIBA is ready to lead the industry by releasing a new instrument designed to check animal blood glucose concentration with just a tiny drop of blood, in only 45 seconds, with measurement accuracy comparable to biochemical analyzers. Today, as more pet owners regard their animals as family members and desire to see their pets enjoy better healthcare services, HORIBA's new device is expected to help provide safer and more reliable pet healthcare by reducing the cost and stress of treatment, and by ensuring faster tests.
Diagnosis of animal diabetes
Since veterinary practice involves examining pet animals that are unable to complain of their problems verbally, and that have smaller bodies than humans, there is increasing need for devices with small blood sample requirements, fast test-times and high accuracy. Thus far, however, there have been no blood glucose meters on the market that have been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Rather, veterinarians must use scientific analyzers, which involve more time and trouble, requiring larger blood samples and pretreatment. Alternatively, veterinarians must rely on hand-held blood glucose self-monitoring devices. To fulfill the needs of animal health providers, HORIBA will be the first company in the industry to launch a veterinary device developed from its blood glucose meter for humans. The new instrument can be used to measure blood glucose concentration simply by placing a tiny blood sample (5μl) on the sample area and pressing the start button. Moreover measurement accuracy is comparable to high-function test instruments. As pets get older, they become more likely to develop diabetes. Providing a blood glucose meter that causes less physical stress on aging pets helps ensure greater reliability and safety in pet diabetes treatment.
Expansion of business activities in the animal market
HORIBA has been marketing the POCT devices, primarily small-size Automatic Blood Cell Count/CRP Measuring Apparatus, which are designed for use by such professionals as doctors and nurses, and are capable of measurement using whole blood without pretreatment. Recently, HORIBA obtained approval for its POCT equipment from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law. With this development as momentum, HORIBA aims to aggressively expand its activities in the animal healthcare market, with particular emphasis on its small, in-situ measuring instruments for professional use, long the company's forte.
The new measuring device will provide animal hospitals with a highly accurate, stress-free means of clinical examination, and pet owners with quick test results, thereby reducing strain on pets and speeding up animal healthcare services.
Advantages of automatic blood glucose meter
Capable of measurement with 5 μl blood sample
To measure blood glucose concentration, place a tiny drop of whole blood (5 μl) on the 4 mm-diameter sample dropping area on the unit, then just press the start button. Results will be displayed in 45 seconds.
High measurement accuracy comparable to that achieved using scientific analyzing instruments
ANTSENSE III VET has the feature to separate only plasma components from the blood sample. Glucose in plasma is oxidized to measure blood glucose concentration. By removing the blood cells that vary in condition depending on the animal, highly accurate measurement can be performed for any kind of animal.
Applications
Diabetes diagnosis, health examination, intrasurgery blood glucose level management