We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

LabMedica

Download Mobile App
Recent News Expo Clinical Chem. Molecular Diagnostics Hematology Immunology Microbiology Pathology Technology Industry Focus

Bleeding Risk Diagnostic Test to Reduce Preventable Complications in Hospitals

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 19 Oct 2023
Print article
Image: The bleeding risk diagnostic test determines blood clotting status and whether a patient is on blood thinners (Photo courtesy of FloBio)
Image: The bleeding risk diagnostic test determines blood clotting status and whether a patient is on blood thinners (Photo courtesy of FloBio)

Millions of people rely on Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) to manage conditions like atrial fibrillation and deep vein thrombosis. These medications are efficient but pose an increased risk of bleeding, making emergency medical treatment challenging. Current bedside diagnostics don't effectively assess the status of DOACs in a patient, complicating the management of bleeding during traumatic incidents, surgeries, strokes, and other health emergencies. Serious bleeding episodes associated with these anticoagulants can result in up to 20% mortality within a month, extend hospital stays, and increase the likelihood of readmission. Now, a rapid bleeding risk diagnostic test can evaluate blood clotting status and identify if a patient is taking DOACs. This knowledge allows emergency and critical care providers to make informed decisions on drug reversal, which can minimize severe bleeding, a significant cause of avoidable complications and fatalities in hospitals.

FloBio (Philadelphia, PA, USA) is developing the first accurate, point-of-care test to detect DOACs that will aid emergency medical staff in deciding whether to administer medications that counteract DOACs' effects. Designed for in-vitro diagnostic purposes, this automated test offers a complete picture of a patient's blood clotting status after factoring in the anticoagulant effects of these blood thinners. The innovative device platform integrates hemodynamic flow with discrete clot activation to mimic physiological blood clotting. This allows for a quick and thorough evaluation of DOAC levels right at the patient's bedside. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for FloBio’s rapid bleeding risk diagnostic test.

"Every year hundreds of thousands of Americans taking DOACs experience emergencies. It is critical that physicians have tools to rapidly detect DOACs so they definitively know whether to proceed with drug reversal to safely manage patients," said Jerri Ann Thatcher, Founding CEO. “We are encouraged that the FDA has recognized that our device has the potential to provide more effective diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases and conditions. Our team looks forward to working with the FDA to accelerate the development, assessment, and commercialization of our technology, which so clearly fills a void in the market.”

Related Links:
FloBio 

Gold Member
Fully Automated Cell Density/Viability Analyzer
BioProfile FAST CDV
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
C-Reactive Protein Assay
OneStep C-Reactive Protein (CRP) RapiCard InstaTest
New
Ultrasonic Cleaner
UC 300 Series

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Sekisui Diagnostics UK Ltd.