BUSINESS
HEALTH
Text by AARON GRUNWALD
Photography by JAN HANRION
GOT THE FLU? CONTROLS Kits include positive controls (to show the test worked properly) and negative controls (to show there’s been no contamination in handling)
EXTRACTION A patient sample, such as a mouth or nasal swab, is taken and DNA extracted using another process
21-IN-1 This kit lets labs simultaneously look for 21 different respiratory pathogens--including types of influenza, coronavirus and pneumonia--and contains enough material to test 30 different patients over 12 months
GET THE PICTURE
PRIMER AND PROBE MIXES DNA from target viruses will bind to each type of PP mix
EXPANDING MARKET The global infectious diseases diagnostics market is forecast to grow from $12.4bn in 2014 to $18.2bn in 2019 December 2015
ENZYMES Start the “amplification” process (where DNA is rapidly duplicated) so target viruses can be detected
INFECTIOUS DISEASE DETECTION You’re sick and your doctor orders a lab test. That’s not new but the way technicians carry out those tests increasingly is. Many are switching to special kits such as those made by Fast Track Diagnostics, which is based in Esch-Alzette and ships to more than 50 countries. The company claims its approach cuts time to diagnosis and improves patient care. Instead of doctors ordering tests one by one (and waiting for results to come back one by one) lab techs can look for all the likely suspects in one go, using a method called “syndromic multiplex testing”. Eight year old Fast Track Diagnostics makes more than 60 different types of “polymerase chain reaction” test kits, detecting diseases such as Ebola, gastroenteritis, gonorrhea, hepatitis, malaria, and childhood measles and mumps. The one pictured here checks for respiratory illnesses. www.fasttrackdiagnostics.com
GROWING BUSINESS The firm recorded total turnover of €6.6m in 2014, up from €4.6m in 2013 and €2.7m in 2012
Sources: Delano interview with company representative; company documentation; “Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market” report issued by MarketsandMarkets, a research firm, in January
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