Swedish company ‘Prolight Diagnostics AB’ acquires ‘Psyros Diagnostics’ as the latter achieves a break-through in POC Testing

By: Akhil Pathak (Twitter: @akhilpathak86)

In the latest from the diagnostics space, a Swedish diagnostic company- Prolight Diagnostics AB has acquired Psyros Diagnostics for approximately 5.25 million Pounds. This has come after Psyros Diagnostics has claimed to have developed a highly advanced & effective Point-of-Care or POC testing technology (patent pending), that enables identifying critical Biomarkers within as low as 10 minutes! 

Biomarkers are basically molecules, genes or characteristics that occur naturally in the body and an early detection of these molecules helps in identifying a specific disease or chronic medical condition that is still in its initial stage/s, thereby, opening up the doors of timely & effective preventive measures.

Psyros’ POC Testing technology offers a single-use cartridge and a dedicated test analyzer that uses a single drop of blood to detect a disease or chronic ailment. Ulf Bladin, CEO Prolight Diagnostics AB, have said that Psyros’ POC system offers high performance with simplicity. He also said that the testing system developed by Psyros Diagnostics is easy to use and identifies biomarkers in “10 minutes or less”.

Image Source: healthcare-in-europe.com

What is POC Testing? 

POC or Point-of-Care Testing is a rapid test/diagnosis that is performed outside a full-scale or conventional diagnostic centre. In fact, POC tests are fundamentally developed for being performed in remote locations like a drive-by or a pharmacy or even by patients themselves. Some of the widely known POC tests are- Pregnancy test, Blood Glucose level test and the test to measure the Cholesterol level in the body. 

The sphere of POC testing is growing very fast and more & more rapid POC tests are available today such as rapid testing for Influenza as well as a ‘Strep A’ test to detect the bacteria that causes throat infections. Many POC tests are also available for chronic disease screening e.g HIV, Hepatitis C etc. 

It is worth mentioning that in this ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, millions of Rapid Antigen Tests which come under the POC testing mechanism, have been performed to detect the COVID-19 virus. 

Advantages of POC Testing

POC Testing has undoubtedly become an integral part of the broader medical diagnostic ecosystem, simply because of the convenience, effectiveness and the much needed head-start that it offers for timely detection & prevention of a disease. 

Some of the features that make POC Testing, an incredible diagnostic system are:

• It facilitates remote patient monitoring
• It delivers quick & reliable diagnosis
• It promotes value based healthcare and offers ease of diagnosis
• It helps in the early detection & prevention of a disease
• It promotes effective management of a chronic medical condition
• It empowers patients to keep track of their health themselves
• It significantly reduces the load on Emergency Units in hospitals
• It strengthens the healthcare infrastructure in remote locations
• It enables pharmacists to offer certain diagnostic tests, thus, generating revenue for community pharmacies
• It helps patients in lowering their overall visits to conventional diagnostic centres

Therefore, it is clear that POC testing is fast evolving into a futuristic or next-gen medical testing mechanism and one should genuinely hope that it propels the medical diagnosis ecosystem to new heights of efficacy- resulting in overall health & well being!

(Akhil Pathak is a Freelance Writer who is an observer of global politics & geo-strategic matters, with special focus on the security framework of India. He keeps a watchful eye on key developments that are related to health, defence and psychology. He also tracks concerning social issues that warrant immediate attention.)