Productivity Boosters, High-Growth Flu Tests, New POC Certification and Other Innovations at AACC 2018 Meeting

ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The IVD industry has struck back, so to speak, at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry this year.  With laboratories sorting out expected reimbursement reductions due to PAMA legislation in the US and also various lab consolidations and cuts in Europe,  in vitro diagnostic vendors doubled down on automated features in analyzers and data support that could make their analyzers and reagents first in a time of limitations.  This was evident from the exhibits at the largest global meeting of IVD vendors and laboratories in Chicago this week.    

"Productivity has long been a focus, but a new urgency was seen at Tuesday's Clinical Lab Expo, as evidenced by the following vendor demonstrations," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information, a market research firm focusing on the industry. 

Among the lab productivity offerings at the meeting:

• Roche Diagnostics used its media briefing Tuesday to highlight lab operation and new initiatives in the company's digital diagnostics portfolio to offer lab optimization and also to expand Roche beyond the lab into test ordering. In addition, a representative from a Chicago-area health network discussed how the laboratory had nearly eliminated MRSA in the organization while being cost-effective, by targeting testing using test-priority algorithms.
  
  
• For Raritan, N.J. - based, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, the focus at the meeting was on the avowed precision of their newly CE-marked Ortho VITROS® XT 7600 Integrated System. The country will market the dry-slide system in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. In a meeting with Kalorama Information, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics said the dry-slide limits interference and thus improves productivity by reducing re-runs, due to less interference from running water. In addition the new system has the ability to run tests that are frequently ordered for the same patient, using less blood and saving time and labor.
  
  
• Siemens Healthineers displayed three different configurations of its Atellica analyzer-with-automated-features solution, which was soft-launched at the meeting two years ago. Customers that have used the system gave talks about how productivity was enhanced in their laboratories. The company also demonstrated their products that deliver blood gas results in less than a minute and leverage artificial intelligence for improved PCR interpretation.

Influenza testing was a clear focus among vendors in the Clinical Expo.  This was not surprising, given that the CDC said that 2017–18 influenza season was a high severity, A(H3N2)-predominant season. 

• Abbott prominently displayed the Alere i, which the company plans to change to IDNow according to its booth presentation at the meeting. Alere i drove the diagnostic division to high gains in Q1 of this year.
  
  
• Sekisui launched CLIA Waived Silaris™ Influenza A&B Test for molecular diagnostic test utilizing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology providing highly accurate results for early diagnosis and proper management of influenza.
  
  
• At the company's press conference, Roche Diagnostics North American head Jack Philips said that the company's Liat, a CLIA-waived small-footprint system offering flu testing, drove molecular test sale growth this year.

  In other developments at the meeting:

• First-Ever POC Certification: The AACC announced that it would create a certification for POC Testing Professionals, known as the CPP, or Certified Point of Care Testing Professional.
  
  
• Glucose for Critical Care: Waltham, MA-based Nova Biomedical StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter System has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fingerstick testing with critically ill patients.
  
  
• First All-in-One Clinical Analyzer with LC-MS/MS: Thermo Fisher presented the fully automated Thermo Scientific Cascadion SM Clinical Analyzer1, recently IVD CE-marked in Europe. It is the first all-in-one clinical analyzer with LC-MS/MS technology designed for use by non-experts in a variety of settings.
  
  
• New HbA1c Assay: Sekisui Diagnostics announced the FDA clearance of their SEKURE HbA1c assay.
  
  
• New Immunohenotyping Cocktails - Beckman Coulter introduced the ClearLLab panel of reagents first reformulated, IVD antibody cocktails for L and L immunophenotyping in the clinical lab.
  
  
• New NAAT - GNA Biosciences presented its Pulse Controlled Amplification (PCA), a technology that accelerates nucleic acid amplificiation. Using PCA may lead to infected patients being discovered faster in non-traditional testing environments.
  
  
• Warning on Ovulation Tests - Two out of three of the digital home ovulation tests sold by U.S. retailers do not accurately predict when a woman is ovulating, according to a team of researchers led by Sara Johnson, PhdD, of Swiss Precision Diagnostics in the UK. They presented at the scientific sessions at the meeting.

Kalorama Information is a leading market researcher publisher.  Its report, The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, 11^th Edition, is slated to be released on August 27th.

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 on our company website: https://www.kaloramainformation.com/.   

Press Contact:
Bruce Carlson
212 807 2262
[email protected]

SOURCE Kalorama Information