Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. and Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. Announce the Formation of GlycoMark, Inc., a Joint Venture to Develop and Commercialize Novel Biomarkers fo...( GlycoMark(R) Blood Test Now Establi...),Health

GlycoMark(R) Blood Test Now Established to Provide Physicians with Vital

Information Missed by Hemoglobin A1c Test to More Effectively Manage

Patients with Diabetes

NEW YORK and WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. (New York, NY) and Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announced today the formation of a new joint venture company, GlycoMark, Inc., dedicated to the discovery and commercialization of novel biomarkers for diabetes. The company is located in New York, NY and the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem, NC.

Toyota Tsusho America, Inc., Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd., and the BioMarker Group (Kannapolis, NC) have worked together as partners to commercialize the GlycoMark(R) diabetes blood test over the past few years prior to establishing the new company. With increasing clinical acceptance and commercial success of the GlycoMark(R) blood test, a solid foundation has now been built to position GlycoMark, Inc. as a leader in the field of diabetes diagnostics.

"The GlycoMark(R) blood test is being increasingly utilized in clinical practice to manage patients with diabetes and in clinical drug studies," said John Buse, MD, PhD, director of the diabetes care center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill. "The test is particularly useful in monitoring moderately controlled patients, where GlycoMark may be more dynamic than the gold standard hemoglobin A1C test in reflecting glucose levels, according to some recent studies."

"I am excited about the vision for this new company," said Eric Button, president and co-owner of GlycoMark, Inc. "We have already achieved several key clinical and commercialization milestones for GlycoMark(R) and the success of the test has put us in a strong position to transform testing for diabetes, a near-epidemic in the U.S. and worldwide."

GlycoMark(R) milestones include:

-- FDA approval
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