Newer Forms of Diseases Need Rapid Test Kits

Frost and Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA) is an international growth consultancy company whose study provides information on various products and technologies available in the market today and those on the verge of commercialization. The technologies covered include microarrays, biosensors, polymerase chain reaction/real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR/RT PCR), immunoassays, and lab-on-chip (LOC) tests.

Rapid tests, otherwise called near-patient tests, are done at the site of an incident and in the presence of the patient. The doctor cannot take even the most critical decision about the appropriate therapy without the results of these tests. A rapid diagnostic test kit includes a wide variety of portable analytic devices such as dipsticks, microarrays, biosensors, microdevices, LOC devices, microchips, or biomicro electrical mechanical systems (bioMEMS).

Rapid tests can monitor and screen for medical conditions and are rapidly being developed for use on a single-test basis, according to the analyst of the study. They are showing promise as indispensable tools not only in medical laboratories for use by doctors and at-home self-testing for use by patients, but also in clinical research purposes for use by researchers.

Clinical applications for rapid tests include fertility tests, tests for tumor markers, toxicology tests--for drugs abuse, heavy metal poisoning tests, genetic testing, metabolic disease testing, testing for allergies, infectious disease testing, theranostics, and pharmacogenomics. Other uses of rapid tests include testing for biologic and environmental contamination.

The growing number of infective agents, their dynamic genetic nature, the absence of specific and efficient treatments for several viral and bacterial diseases, and genetic diseases such as cancer has created the need of rapid identification and diagnosis. In recent years, molecular diagnostic techniques have been the ongoing focus of researchers and there have been noteworthy developments in these diagnostics that have brought about new developments in healthcare. Starting from the detection of infectious organisms, diagnosis of metabolic and genetic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, sophisticated modern technologies have resulted in highly sensitive and specific tests that can produce rapid and at the point-of-care and real-time results for the patients.

The commercial diagnostic assay that was introduced in the market for the first time was based on the non-amplified detection of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), the abundantly found genetic material in bacteria. These nucleic acid technologies applied for the detection of pathogens such as viruses and bacteria are now coupled with newly designed assays for the detection of novel biologic markers associated with various types of cancer and autoimmune diseases. In many instances, the developmental trend will continue to be combining robust chemical or biochemical assays with sophisticated hardware and software to bring about automated, high throughput, and rapid testing methodologies at the point-of-care use, explained the analyst. In the future, less laborious rapid testing which can give accurate and comparable results could potentially replace conventional testing or may even become a mandatory adjunct to conventional tests.




Related Links:
Frost & Sullivan