Can you tell me more about the “old” versus “new” Type II von Willebrand Disease (vWD) test?

Historically, all services testing for the German Pointer Type II von Willebrand Disease (vWD) variant, including Embark, were actually looking at a linked genetic marker, ie, a variant that could predict Type II vWD but was not responsible for the disease itself. You can read more about this specific marker here (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15133170)

However, a newer publication (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28696025) describes a novel variant that associates perfectly with Type II vWD in the German Pointer breeds and is essentially absent in other dog breeds. As such, it is highly likely that this new variant is responsible for Type II vWD. Thus, we have removed the linked marker from our repertoire and will now be exclusively testing for the causative variant described above.