Point-of-care testing is back in style. The concept of developing technologies that can rapidly diagnose disease or yield other important medical information, and do so without highly trained laboratory workers, has attracted several waves of investment over the past 25 to 30 years. But the market has yet to expand in the massive way proponents have predicted time and again. In 1995, there were about 10 point-of-care (POC) tests for sale in the US, diagnosing and monitoring such things as blood glucose and coagulation, pregnancy, and metabolites in urine. Now there are approximately 110 POC tests on offer. A few dominant players are profiting, but there is no boom. Yet once again, executives and investors proclaim that “the time is now” for POC or “near-patient” testing – or, at least, ripe for the specific tests and platforms they themselves are developing.
This time around, advocates insist that shifting dynamics of health care delivery and meaningful technological advances will enable successful commercialization...
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