INDIA – Molbio Diagnostics has joined hands with SigTuple, a MedTech startup in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostics, to develop and market next-generation point-of-care (POC) diagnostic testing devices.

The AI-powered portable medical devices are set to be deployed to public healthcare facilities, and hospitals across India, taking testing closer to the patient, to reduce turnaround time for diagnostic testing, improve accuracy and reduce error.

In an official note, Molbio Diagnostics stated: “These devices will enable testing to be performed at the point-of-care – a doctor’s chamber, a public health centre, or an emergency room of a hospital – without having to send samples to central laboratories.”

This collaborative project between Molbio Diagnostics and SigTuple intends to facilitate basic testing procedures to be performed in near-patient settings to ensure early diagnosis and initiation of correct treatment.

The introduction of next-gen point-of-care diagnostic testing devices will pave the way for decentralized diagnostics, which has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare spending.

These devices will provide instant medical reports through Artificial Intelligence to enable immediate interventions and create a positive impact on patient and societal well-being.

Moreover, the partnership will help to fill the diagnostic gaps due to the usage of suboptimal diagnostic tests for various diseases and conditions excluding COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic fuelled explosive growth in the development of point-of-care Covid testing devices. However, such point-of-care testing for critical routine diagnostic tests is still lagging far behind.

To fill these gaps in diagnostics, Molbio and SigTuple plan to build AI-powered, battery-operated, portable devices for many diagnostic tests in the various medical fields, such as Hematology, Biochemistry, and Electrochemistry, just to name a few.

“The testing process will be extremely simplified and will not require a trained laboratory technician to perform the tests. Accurate, laboratory-quality test results will be available to the patient within a few minutes,” the Goa-based company claimed.

This agreement aligns with Molbio’s and SigTuple’s common mission and vision to drive cutting-edge technology that makes high-quality diagnostics accessible to everyone.

In his address, Sriram Natarajan, CEO, Founder, and Director of Molbio Diagnostics, asserted: “Molbio started with the vision to democratize access to high-quality diagnostics through innovative tools. Truenat, our point of care molecular platform, is already playing this role in the area of infectious diseases.”

The upcoming product launch comes as Molbio’s patented Truenat technology can screen over 40 diseases with a sample-to-result time of 60 minutes, including COVID-19, TB, HCV, HBV, HIV, HPV, Dengue, Malaria, Influenza, Nipah, and typhoid, just to name a few.

Following regulatory approval by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Molbio Diagnostics recently introduced its novel test for the differential diagnosis of the H3N2 and H1N1 virus.

Molbio Diagnostics also bought a 70 percent stake in Prognosys Medical Systems, a market leader in digital radiology and imaging equipment, to expand its regional presence in specialized diagnostics.

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