Point-of-Care Testing

Roche Diagnostics is a leader in the POC testing space. Shown here is the company's Accu-Check Inform II system for blood glucose monitoring.

Next year, Frost & Sullivan's Divyaa Ravishankar says we’ll be hearing a lot more about improved point-of-care testing.

“Today, you walk into a clinic and have a blood sample drawn by a phlebotomist. It takes two to three days to process, and then you get on the patient portal or hear the results form your doctor,” she says. “But a few companies are now rendering blood-based tests in a point-of-care testing format, so you can walk in, get tested, get your results in 10 minutes, and walk out.”

She says Alere is the leader in this area, with Roche Diagnostics not far behind.

Other companies are focusing on using microfluidics to speed up diagnosis of infections diseases, such as strep, influenza, and HIV. Theranos, one of the most talked about players in space, suffered some setbacks this year, but Ravishankar says others, such as QuantuMDX and DNA Electronics, are ready to take up the torch.

[image courtesy of ROCHE]