Siemens Healthineers Closes Epocal Acquisition

Siemens Healthineers (Erlangen, Germany), the separately managed healthcare business of Siemens AG, has completed the acquisition of Epocal Inc., a subsidiary of Alere Inc. (Waltham, MA, USA) that develops and provides point-of-care (POC) blood diagnostic systems for healthcare enterprises.

Siemens Healthineers offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services in its core areas of diagnostic and therapeutic imaging and in laboratory diagnostics and molecular medicine. Epocal’s portfolio of POC blood diagnostic systems includes the epoc Blood Analysis System, a handheld, wireless testing solution that provides blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite results near the patient in approximately 30 seconds after sample introduction.

By integrating Epocal’s offerings into its POC Ecosystem solution, Siemens Healthineers will enable customized testing offerings based on individual facility needs – whether that is handheld testing, benchtop solutions or central lab applications – to help improve process efficiency. The epoc product line will integrate seamlessly into the Siemens Healthineers POC Ecosystem solution for easy connection from many manufacturers’ POC analyzers to hospital information systems, providing a flexible, long-term solution.

“Health networks have varying needs for blood gas testing across physicians’ offices, clinics, emergency departments, laboratories and even in ambulances. Having any one solution is limiting and may not meet all patient needs, which is why customized testing solutions are so important for improving patient care,” said Peter Koerte, President, Point of Care Diagnostics, Siemens Healthineers. “With a complete offering for blood gas diagnostics, we can help healthcare providers and point-of-care coordinators improve their workflows by offering the right test in the right setting at the right time.”