Kalorama: As AACC Clinical Expo Begins, Theranos, Retail Clinics, IVD Cybersecurity Topics of Note
NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AACC, the world's largest lab professional and IVD convention, began with a large splash in its Philadelphia meeting -- more media, crowds, and even rock music, than a clinical chemistry convention normally sees. This attention to the meeting came as controversial Silicon Valley start up Theranos presented to the community of pathologists, lab managers and other professionals and those IVD and supply companies that sell to them.
Kalorama Information has is live tweeting the meeting (twitter.com/KaloramaInfo) to gather primary research for its comprehensive market research reports.
"It's not usual for this convention to feature a packed hall and Rolling Stones music," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "But beyond the splash, there are a great number of new product launches and enhancements from the 750+ vendors here."
Theranos unveiled some of the inside workings of their technology and some selected data to a data-focused and skeptical audience, with many simultaneously commenting on the slides on Twitter and Periscope. It is not likely the talk will do much to quiet the concerns of lab professionsals, as Theranos used its presentation to unveil a new product, the MiniLab, rather than presenting data on its previous products, which many expected. The audience cheered when a scientist said that presented data fell far short of claims. The AACC's invitation to Theranos provided welcome attention to the testing industry, an often obscure area of healthcare that is nonetheless involved in many decisions. As one member tweeted "Lots of ?s remain but the conversation has started."
The meeting is about the large IVD Vendors who sell into this 60-billion dollar market places, and Roche Diagnostics unveiled its new plans to continue to lead in the market. POC was a notable focus as was IT and connected equipment. Among their focus is trading on heritage and legacy of their large systems to ensure that they pick up all of the POC and other tests that are being conducted in a 'virtual connection.' That would replace the physical connections of old.
Roche Diagnostics North American CEO Jack Phillips spoke to media and in several slides highlighted the company's #1 status in the world and in the US in IVD. He also highlighted the consolidation of hospitals, the decentralization of testing venues, and notably the proliferation of retail clinics.
Retail Clinics made of $1 billion dollars in sales, according to Kalorama's report on retail clinics http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Retail-Clinics-Growth-8792050/, Kalorama will update in August.
"There was a time that retail clinics might have been a passing fad, about ten years ago when we began coverage of them," Carlson said. "Now they are very much on the radar of large concerns."
Also of note, The Diagnostic Marketing Association (www.dxma.org) held an IVD in Cybersecurity Event near the convention center. With new cloud-connected IVD devices, the threats of ransomware hacks or "medjacks" for malicious intent were discussed. Speakers said that If clinical users do not buy in, the security features of medical devices will be turned off, hard-coded, or simply not used. Rather the speakers insisted on 'smart authentication' - easier passwords that would last a shift, cell phone recognition, barcodes and other steps that would enable users to keep equipment safe from hacks but still use it.
"It was interesting that this seminar didn't focus on just locking equipment from hackers, but re-training users," said Carlson.
About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.
We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com.
Contact:
Bruce Carlson
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www.KaloramaInformation.com
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