Itamar connects with a U.S. nutrition firm to market its home sleep apnea Dx

Thorne Research is putting a recent acquisition in personalized medicine to work, partnering its WellnessFX division with blood diagnostics maker Itamar Medical to market a home test for sleep apnea.

Thorne and Itamar announced the three-year comarketing agreement Thursday. Thorne, which develops and markets nutritional supplements, acquired WellnessFX in December. The San Francisco firm helps customers manage personal health data.

Based in Israel, Itamar Medical makes sleep and cardiology diagnostics based on its noninvasive peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT) technology. Its two diagnostics product lines are WatchPAT for sleep apnea and ambulatory sleep disorder and EndoPAT for early detection of cardiovascular disease.

According to the news release, Thorne and Itamar signed a three-year, nonexclusive agreement to market EndoPAT and WatchPAT in the U.S., where EndoPAT has FDA clearance for the assessment of arterial function and WatchPAT is cleared for obstructive sleep apnea.

Paul Jacobson is CEO of both Thorne and WellnessFX. "Our practitioner network will now be able to provide patients with science-backed products based on their individual EndoPAT and WatchPAT test results," he said in a statement. "This will result in broader solutions through our practitioner network and WellnessFX. Our ultimate goal is to offer practitioners and patients a full diagnostic health dashboard and assume the leadership position in personalized medicine."

Gilad Glick, CEO of Itamar, said in a statement that EndoPAT is ready for "widespread" clinical use. "Thorne Research's TruCardia line of nutritional supplements ... offers an exciting opportunity to improve prognosis by supporting endothelial function," he said.

- read the press release
- get Nutra ingredients-USA's take on Thorne's WellnessFX buyout