Point-of-care diagnostics
Present situation worldwide and in Switzerland
In vitro diagnostic tools are medical products used to diagnose diseases and monitor therapeutic measures in hospital or specialised private-sector laboratories. Analyses of this type are concerned with biomolecules such as proteins and lipids, human cells and microorganisms. Samples are derived from blood, saliva, urine or other biological material. Diagnostic data collecting of this kind is organised in a highly professional manner and provides data of the highest quality. The downside is that patients must go to the hospital or to their general practitioner for sample taking.
Point-of-care diagnostics (POC diagnostics) is a subfield of in vitro diagnostics. It aims to bring testing procedures closer to patients. The best-known application is the monitoring and treatment of blood sugar levels in patients suffering from diabetes. Self-monitoring or self-testing requires a simple and robust testing system, which in future will be combined with mobile health services (mHealth, telemedicine). The key advantage is the time gained between carrying out a test and implementing therapeutic measures: in future, it will be possible for measurements to be taken in pharmacies, by home care providers and in care and nursing homes. To do so, testing procedures must be integrated in an overarching mHealth concept. Technically speaking, a measuring device basically consists of three elements: a biosensor, a signal converter and a signal processor. The aim is to present the data in a user- friendly form. Current devices already make it possible to represent data over time using charts or graphs. Deviations from target values become easy to spot. Such formatted data can be directly forwarded for interpretation to general practitioners, clinics, eedoctors or other telemedical service providers such as Medgate. Next to these purely technical considerations, the following aspects must be taken into account when developing POC diagnostics: detection of genetic predispositions, diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and their progression, patient- appropriate handiness and manageability of devices, and costs.
Implications for Switzerland
In 2016, around 430’000 persons (i.e. one in twelve employees) were working in the healthcare sector or in the pharmaceutical industry. As a sector, the pharmaceutical- diagnostic industry features high innovation and high added value. Its export ratio is in excess of 40%. Next to Roche as a global supplier of diagnostic solutions, Switzerland numbers a series of SMEs which provide appliances, IT solutions, medical laboratory services or reagents. In the context of digital transformation and in combination with mHealth schemes, POC diagnostics has the opportunity to enable fully mobile monitoring of patients’ state of health, increasing their autonomy and responsibility as well as improving treatment efficacy and productivity. For Switzerland, the production of integrated solutions based on interdisciplinary competences (device engineering, information technology, life sciences, applied psychology, training & education, marketing and distribution) is an opportunity to compete globally by offering new treatment modalities.