Aviir Launches Unique Cardiac Clinical Laboratory in Southern California

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aviir, Inc. announced today the launch of a unique clinical laboratory offering a wide range of testing services focused on the assessment of heart disease as well as related disorders such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The new facility in Orange County, CA will provide physicians with comprehensive information that promises to improve cardiovascular disease prevention and management of related conditions. The facility in Irvine will also create a need for highly skilled employees to meet the anticipated demand.

Cardiovascular disease, despite being preventable and manageable, continues to be the number one cause of death in the United States. With both obesity and diabetes on the rise, the outlook for cardiovascular disease is grim. The American Heart Association predicts that by 2030 more than 40% of Americans will have some form of cardiovascular disease. Using technology originating at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Aviir is the first CLIA laboratory to provide a proprietary test that more accurately identifies patients at high risk for a near-term heart attack by measuring multiple blood markers of vascular inflammation. These patients are often missed by current methods that focus on blood cholesterol.

“There is currently a significant yet unmet clinical need in the medical community for more effective ways to identify individuals at high risk of a heart attack who are missed by current evaluation methods. Providing an accurate assessment of the patient’s overall heart health is the first step in prevention of cardiovascular disease,” stated Douglas Harrington, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Aviir.

“At Aviir, our ultimate goal is to help physicians identify those patients who are at serious risk of experiencing a heart attack but are completely unaware of their precarious condition. Armed with better information, physicians will be able to tailor more individualized treatment plans with the goals of improving patient therapeutic compliance, reducing their risk of heart attacks, and decreasing the overall cost of care'” Dr. Harrington added.

The Aviir CLIA-certified laboratory, based in Irvine, CA, will offer a test menu including all current cardiac laboratory tests, select heart disease gene tests, and a proprietary test, that measures rare inflammatory markers in a patient’s blood that predicts an individual's risk of a heart attack in the near future. The CLIA laboratory service is initially available in the Orange County, CA area and will be expanded to other areas in the near future.

About Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States with more than 400,000 deaths each year. Of the greater than 1.2 million heart attacks per year, many of the afflicted individuals were not even aware that they were at risk. Over 80 million people in the United States currently have some form of cardiovascular disease. With this number expected to grow substantially, the health economic burden is staggering. In 2010, it was estimated that the combined direct and indirect costs associated with cardiovascular disease were $444 billion. Each heart attack that is prevented can reduce healthcare spending by $760,000 to $1 million.

About Aviir

Founded in 2005 by cardiologists and researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine , Aviir is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative diagnostic and predictive cardiovascular tests, employing state of the art laboratory diagnostic methods. Aviir’s CLIA laboratory in Irvine, CA offers a range of tests for risk assessment and therapeutic monitoring of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, peripheral arterial disease, and stroke. Aviir’s leadership in the development of innovative blood tests promises to transform cardiovascular disease prevention and management. The company has adopted a unique clinical laboratory service model for the delivery of testing and associated services providing physicians with better diagnostic tools to improve cardiovascular health and patient compliance. The company is privately owned and funded by leading life science venture capital firms.