Weight Loss/Gain Indicator Test

The obesity epidemic has tremendous repercussions for our armed forces. Being overweight or obese is the number one medical reason why young adults cannot enlist. TRICARE spends over $1 billion a year on treating weight-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease in military personnel and their families. Hence, there is a need for a discreet non-invasive daily assessment method to test the propensity to gain or lose weight in the immediate future such that action to prevent the weight gain/loss can be taken prior to actually gaining/losing weight. To address this Defense Health Program (DHP) need, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new rapid-feedback, non-invasive weight loss/gain indicator (WeightLOGIC) test for daily assessment of an individual?s state of fat storage metabolism. WeightLOGIC is based on a lateral-flow immunochromatographic technology formatted into a toothpick-like stick, a ?test pick?, and is formulated to colorimetrically measure the presence of salivary adipokines as indicators of potential for weight gain/loss. In Phase I, POC will identify suitable salivary biomarkers and develop the test-pick for salivary adiponectin with desired accuracy levels (75-90%). In Phase II, POC will optimize and validate WeightLOGIC and prepare for manufacturing and approval with FDA.