IDEXX Launches Catalyst SDMA For Veterinary Renal Disorder

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX) has announced the commercial launch of its Catalyst SDMA Test to all North American customers, scheduled on Jan 16, 2018. With this, IDEXX’s point-of-care customers will now be able to add SDMA as an essential element to the routine chemistry panel.

Per IDEXX, SDMA is an essential chemistry parameter, more reliable and sensitive as an indicator of kidney function than creatinine. This will enable veterinarians to detect acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease earlier than before.

The company encouragingly stated that this commercial launch has ramped up its kidney test profile for the point of care. On a positive note, already more than 2,731 preorders for the 12-test box of the Catalyst SDMA Test have been shipped to IDEXX customers. Also, another 1,762 existing preorders were supposed to be shipped last week.

The Catalyst SDMA Test has already been in use for hundreds of practices across the United States. Per management, this test “can be added to any chemistry panel on IDEXX’s Catalyst One and Catalyst Dx chemistry analyzers as part of the patient sample run with the full chemistry panel results including SDMA, available within minutes”.

Apart from the United States and Canada, IDEXX expects to bring the Catalyst SDMA Test to customers in other parts of the world over the next several months. There are more than 28,000 Catalyst One and Catalyst Dx analyzers in use for veterinary practices worldwide.

Apart from emerging a lead player in the field of veterinary renal care market with SDMA as its major development, IDEXX now explores its potential in human health. Accordingly, the company has of late signed a collaboration agreement with Yale University, an organization renowned for human nephrology research.

Per the company, as part of this partnership, the IDEXX SDMA Test was validated for accuracy in measuring SDMA in human blood samples and the results were presented at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology only last November by Yale and IDEXX researchers. Future research with Yale will focus on the clinical utility of SDMA in human patients using the validated IDEXX SDMA Test.

This leading molecular diagnostic company has been trading above the broader industry. The stock has gained 10.1% over the last 30 days comparing favorably with the 5.1% growth of the broader industry.

Other Key Picks

IDEXX carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) , Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) and Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:MOH) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Bio-Rad has a whopping expected growth rate of 141.5% for the first quarter of 2018. The stock has jumped 35%, surpassing the broader industry over a year.

Centene has an expected long-term growth rate of 14%. The stock’s performance on the bourses has been solid in a year’s time with a high return of 70.4%.

For 2018, Molina Healthcare has a solid projected growth rate of 178.6%. The stock has surged 37.8%, higher than the broader industry’s rally of 17.9% in the last three months.

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