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Dubai, UAE – Since its inception in 2020, GluCare.Health stands out as a forward-thinking healthcare institution in the GCC, tackling metabolic health issues through a continuous hybrid approach that combines human expertise with advanced technology. Most recently, GluCare.Health has become the first in the region to offer a uPTM-FetA test for early detection of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). “At GluCare, we are constantly studying the scientific literature to see what innovations are happening globally to combat the widespread issue of uncontrolled diabetes patients developing comorbidities that could have been prevented years ago. By implementing the uPTM-FetA biomarker test into routine diabetes check-ups, we enable our care team to protect kidneys before irreversible damage occurs and not when it’s too late, which is what we currently see in the traditional healthcare system,” said Dr. Ihsan Almarzooqi, Co-founder and Managing Director of GluCare.Health.
Revolutionizing Preventive Care through Early DKD Detection
In DKD, kidney damage begins with fibrosis and inflammation, with urinary post-translationally modified Fetuin-A (uPTM-FetA) released into urine as an early indicator of this process. Current standard tests like urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are alone insufficient for early detection. In fact, up to 40% of DKD patients present with normal kidney function (normal albuminuria), leading to delayed diagnosis and intervention.
Dr. Ihsan Almarzooqi, Co-Founder, stated: “Our personalized, evidence-based hybrid care pathways have led to outcomes that are vastly superior to traditional care providers. We are shifting the care model to one where we are able to detect disease trends far earlier. We cannot wait until guidelines change - there are so many innovations occurring that a forward-thinking provider has to constantly be tweaking their care model of what they test in terms of diagnostics, and what they do in terms of their care plan and therapeutics. As one of the leading metabolic health providers globally in terms of outcomes, transparency, and peer-reviewed publications, many providers look at our care model as the benchmark of what they should be implementing into their care pathways and what the future of health looks like.” Unlike delayed standard biomarkers (UACR/eGFR) that most traditional care providers rely upon, uPTM-FetA levels increase before clinical symptoms or standard test abnormalities appear, providing an advanced, non-invasive biomarker that predicts kidney function decline 1-2 years earlier than traditional methods. The test complements, not replaces, traditional markers, ensuring maximum accuracy and enabling timely interventions, allowing practitioners to practise a more proactive model of care.
This can significantly enhance patient outcomes by enabling early detection and intervention:
1. Preventing Progression: identifies progression of kidney disease in early DKD before standard tests pick it up, helping to prevent end stage renal disease (ESRD).
2. Reducing Mortality: early use of therapies like certain medication expands kidney protection, reducing ESRD incidence by up to 40%.
3. Personalized Care: the test can distinguish patients by risk levels, useful for tailoring treatment plans. For example: low risk patients continue with standard diabetes care, lifestyle maintenance, and annual kidney health checks. High risk patients start preventive therapies earlier, including lifestyle adjustments, multidrug regimens and frequent monitoring.
Raising the Bar for Standard Diabetes Care
The test is integrated into GluCare’s diabetes/prediabetes care package, so patients benefit from this breakthrough as part of their routine check-ups: Unlike traditional institutions, GluCare’s hybrid care model integrates dieticians, exercise coaches, and lifestyle coaches as routine components of care. The program utilises wearable devices such as the Oura ring and Continuous Glucose Monitors to provide continuous and actionable insights into patient health by leveraging digital biomarkers, such as sleep, stress, physical activity, and glucose levels. With the current traditional model seemingly failing to yield results considering 70% of Type 2 Diabetes patients in the UAE still present as uncontrolled, they are now one of the global benchmarks of how to manage metabolic diseases effectively.
About GluCare.Health:
GluCare.Health is the first hybrid, vertically integrated metabolic disease platform of its kind, tackling the global metabolic health crisis head-on from a first-principles basis. The company’s unique model of care synthesizes the human and machine in the pursuit of enduring behavior change and lasting outcomes. Conceptualized in the UAE with several clinics and a global expansion into new markets (UK in 2026 and US in 2027), it is the world’s first healthcare provider to empower both clinicians and patients through Continuous Metabolic Monitoring as part of its standard model of care, an innovative and highly personalized ‘continuous healthcare’ approach that provides a comprehensive and real-time view of patients. GluCare.Health has become the first provider globally to be accredited by International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurements (ICHOM) and is usually amongst the first global adopters of new certified AI diagnostics into distinctive care pathways. It is also the leading private provider regionally contributing to peer-reviewed research.
About metabolic.health:
metabolic.health, founded in Dubai, is a hybrid therapeutics company that combines the engagement and accountability power of the human with the data and analytic power of the machine in the pursuit of superior clinical outcomes. We operate a full-stack clinical presence under the brand GluCare.Health and manage non-diabetic members with metabolic health concerns through our direct-to-consumer brand Zone.Health.
Media Contact:
Nuha Naseer
Marketing Executive, GluCare.Health
Email: nuha@metabolic.health
Relevant photos can be found attached (Dr Ihsan) and in the following link: https://we.tl/t-cDkh0V6uu4
