Inside the Diagnostics Industry: One Drop of Blood Going a Long Way to Diagnose Disease

It was just over a year ago that Theranos (Palo Alto, Calif.) set the laboratory industry abuzz by unveiling its microsample testing services at Walgreens locations. While Theranos’s rapid results and transparent, low-cost pricing is still potentially transformative for the entire health care system, interest in other microsample testing scenarios continues to gain momentum. Among the purported benefits of microsample testing is the ability to conduct more frequent monitoring, especially if drop-sized samples can be self-collected. This scenario not only eliminates the inconvenience of traveling to blood draw sites for the sick, the elderly, or those in underserved areas, but it also eliminates the barrier to testing imposed by the fear of needles. All of the companies DTET spoke to involved in microsample testing herald the benefits of more frequent monitoring and improved patient compliance. Spot On Sciences (Austin, Texas) believes it can transform testing through innovation in the collection and storage of biological fluid samples. What if patients didn’t need to worry about coming in for blood draws? What if with a finger stick they could mail in their own self-collected, two-drop sample? Spot On Sciences’ CEO Jeanette Hill, Ph.D., believes this is possible through some enhancements to the […]