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Advances in Point-of-Care Technologies (Technical Insights)
Frost & Sullivan, June 2005
Point-of-Care Testing Industry to Dispel False Impression about the Costs and Accuracy of its Services
Point-of-care (PoC) industry participants are working hard on dispelling the incorrect notion that PoC testing is less accurate, more expensive, and more difficult to manage than testing in central laboratories. This is an uphill task and these companies have to leverage the results of clinical studies on PoC along with their market performance to achieve this goal. The companies should promote PoC instruments that provide results, which are as accurate and reliable as those obtained from laboratories. Further, PoC manufacturers must demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of these products to physicians and patients to get rid of end-user apprehensions. Device makers also need to channelize substantial resources to develop such user-friendly, accurate, and cost-effective devices to win end-users confidence.
This Technical Insights study provides an overview of advances in PoC technologies. It presents technology and application viewpoints, examines the emerging minimally and noninvasive blood glucose monitoring solutions, blood gas analyzers with new tests, and rapid tests that combine the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The research service enables companies to align their positioning strategies to benefit from the emerging technologies.
PoC Testing Provides Real-time Results on Multi-assay Platforms
The medical community is slowly buying into the ability of PoC tests to provide real-time results when compared to those conducted in laboratories. PoC testing helps provide better patient care by aiding physicians in decision making during emergencies, says the analyst of this research service. This is further complemented by their ability to carry out multiple assays such as blood gases, electrolytes, chemistries, coagulation, hematology, glucose, and cardiac markers simultaneously.
Various technological innovations are further assisting the creation of multi-assay platforms for concurrent testing of various diseases. These platforms not only save time and provide reliable results but also offer cost benefits. Technological innovations such as glucose monitoring systems that are minimally invasive, or even non-invasive, and do not require any kind of patient preparation are expected to go a long way in popularizing PoC technologies. These developments make PoC testing simple to perform and painless.
Central Laboratories Pose Stiff Competition to PoC Manufacturers
Laboratories are firmly established testing points and they pose the biggest competition to the PoC industry. These laboratories maintain that PoC testing cannot match laboratory testing in terms of cost and accuracy and this approach is curtailing the growth of PoC technologies. To counter this restraint, PoC test manufacturers have to publicize their new systems that are either portable, handheld units or are modular and fit into bedside monitors. The latter type can even incorporate the arterial blood gas (ABG) results into the patient's record.
Although, intensive research and development have helped add more tests to the PoC platform, scientists are now facing the challenge of conducting the optimal number of tests from a single blood sample. It has taken a while for chemistry and immunochemistry to be integrated into a single platform for central laboratory testing using serum or plasma, notes the analyst. It will be interesting to see how quickly manufacturers can replicate the same for PoC.
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