Description
Mobile health has reached in vitro diagnostics and as this Kalorama report details, may change the industry forever. Over the years, the introduction of transportable, portable, and handheld instruments has resulted in the migration of clinical lab testing from the central lab to a range of environments including self-testing, community clinics, the workplace, home, disaster care and most recently, retail convenience clinics. In spite of promotional materials that emphasize ease of use, the majority of currently available POC tests require a fair amount of medical lab know-how, especially in the interpretation of the test result.
The goal is for cell phone-enabled test devices to provide primary care for underserved areas in developed countries and low income developing markets. Especially since new technologies are allowing POC devices to produce quantitative lab-quality test results that can be transferred automatically to an information system, to a remote caregiver service for consultation or to an electronic medical record.
This report, Cell Phone-Enabled Diagnostics: mHealth Applications in IVD tracks cell phone-enabled products on the market and how they will affect the existing diagnostic industry. As part of this report’s coverage, the following is included:
- Representative Cell Phone-Enabled Products in Diabetes, Immunoassays, Hematology, Histology and Molecular IVD.
- Market Outlook for mHealth In IVD and The Best Areas For Commercial Success
- Description of the Market Leaders, Organizations and Companies In This Market.
- Government and Payer Support for mHealth
- The Role of New technologies in the Evolution of POCT
- Consumer, Physician and Payor Willingness
- How Upstarts are Faring Vs. Established Products
- Analyst Conclusions
Kalorama lead diagnostic analyst Shara Rosen, R.T., MBA presents the new developments in the convergence of IVD and mobile technologies in this unique overview of the mHealth IVD market. The company profile chapter provides a selection of companies and organizations that are pioneering the use of specially designed digital and or wireless and cell phone-enabled test devices for clinical diagnostic applications. The most advanced applications are available for glucose self-testing and the transmission of stained slide images in histology, microbiology and hematology for remote consultation with and analysis by an expert. The following companies are profiled.
- Accuster Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
- AgaMatrix, Inc.
- Alere
- ARKRAY
- ARUP Laboratories
- Axxin
- BBInternational
- BIO-key International, Inc.
- BodyTel Europe GmbH
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- CellScope
- CellScope Inc.
- Clearbridge BioLoc Pte Ltd
- Columbia University
- DNAFORM
- eSTI – (Electronic self-testing instruments)
- Entra Health Systems
- Freescale Semiconductor
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Gene-Z
- Genomic Health, Inc.
- GenPrime, Inc.
- Gentag Inc.
- GlySens Incorporated
- Harvard University Medical School
- Heidelberger-Medical-Marketing GmbH (HMM GmbH)
- HolGenTech Inc.
- Holomic LLC (formerly Microskia)
- Infopia Co Ltd
- Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc.
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science of Technology (KAIST)
- Labonfoil Consortium
- Leica Microsystems
- Lifescan Inc.
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- MAVAND Solutions GmbH
- MEDIWISS Analytic GmbH
- Medtronic Inc.
- MycroLab Pty Ltd.
- NextLab
- Oasis Diagnostics
- Oasis Scientific, Inc.
- QIAGEN N.V.
- QuantuMDx Group Limited
- Sano Intelligence
- Skannex
- TelCare Inc.
- Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
- University of Arizona
- University of Washington
- X out TB
The companies selected are those that are pioneers in their field and that provide an overview of the innovations underway in cell phone-enabled diagnostics. The information presented in this report is derived on publicly available information sources such as company, government, and medical organization reports. The analysis is based on the author’s industry knowledge combined with literature searches and interviews with industry professionals and experts in the areas of POC tests, mobile health, decentralized healthcare and healthcare economics.
The use of cell phone-enabled diagnostics is in the earlystages of development in both developed and developing world markets. Thereforethis market analysis is somewhat speculative.In spite of the buzz about the use of cell phone-enabled test devices inmHealth, there are so many combinations of devices, applications and marketsthat the market is hard to define with precision.
Current mHealth programs that use cell phones as part of thediagnostic process (with the exception of glucose self-testing) have beeninitiated as pilot projects in developing countries with little or no concreteplans for their continuation as fully funded and government supportedhealthcare services.
Further, since much of the current mHealth products aredelivered as smartphone apps and services that are offered as part of a productoffering, it is difficult to estimate the size of the opportunity. Nevertheless, this report takes a bold lookinto the possibilities for cell phone-enabled testing in the next five to tenyears.
