Daxor Corporation, a medical instrumentation and biotechnology company has , received a signed trial agreement from The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, Florida which will provide the Veterinary Medical Center with a Blood Volume Analyzer-100 (BVA-100), an instrument which enables semi-automated measurement of a patient's total blood volume, red blood cell volume and plasma volume. Blood volume abnormalities have been observed in human patients suffering from various medical conditions, such as heart failure or trauma. This will provide an opportunity to assess whether the BVA-100 can be used to diagnose and treat similar conditions in animal subjects.

The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine is the only veterinary college in the state of Florida, and one of only 28 accredited veterinary colleges in the US. The University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center is the largest animal specialty referral hospital in the Southeastern US Approximately 16,000 dogs, cats, and other small animal domestic and wildlife species are treated at their Small Animal Hospital each year. 4,000 horses are treated at their Large Animal Hospital annually, and 1,000 farm animals – including beef and dairy cattle – are treated in their home farm environments by veterinarians from the Center. The University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center prides itself on its state-of-the-art medical care and cutting-edge research program.

Veterinarian Carsten Bandt, DACVECC, assistant professor for Emergency and Critical Care in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Science, recently performed a series of rare dialysis procedures on a 14-month-old bull terrier named Zansi suffering from kidney failure. These treatments stabilized Zansi until she was able to receive a successful transplant with a kidney donated by one of her littermates. Dr Bandt said, "We are very excited to have the BVA-100 in our facility and think that the ability to know a patient's total blood volume from a direct and accurate measurement will be a great asset in our studies of dialysis, haemorrhagic shock and general fluid management."

The BVA-100 has proven useful in the diagnosis of volume overload in human heart failure patients, which can then allow for more effective treatment. It has also been shown to provide more precise quantitation of critical care patients' need for fluids and red cell transfusions in the intensive care unit, which led to an improvement in mortality. It will be interesting to see whether the BVA-100 can provide similar benefits for an animal patient population. If so, this may open up an opportunity for Daxor in the veterinary market. It may also allow blood volume testing to become incorporated into preclinical studies, which would further promote the use of the BVA-100 in clinical trial studies.

Daxor Corporation manufactures and markets the BVA-100, which is used in conjunction with Volumex, Daxor's single use diagnostic kit.