UBC® Rapid is now verified for use on a new instrument
AroCell announces today that their quantitative point-of-care (POC) oncology product UBC® Rapid has been verified for results interpretation on a new instrument, the Cube Reader. By differentiating UBC® Rapid and addressing the different needs of end-users, the possibility of a more widespread use increases.
The Cube Reader is manufactured by the same company (Chembio Diagnostics Inc.) as the concile Ω100, which is currently exclusively used for interpretation of UBC® Rapid. The Cube Reader is a user-friendly, portable, palm-sized device that complements the concile Ω100 by better suiting simpler POC settings.
“The introduction of the Cube Reader to UBC Rapid opens new segments of the market by providing a more cost-effective and effortless alternative to smaller healthcare facilities. By continually assessing and improving UBC Rapid we hope to shift healthcare closer to the patient, thus decreasing wait-time, patient anxiety, and hospital burden,” says Erik Nyberg, Product Manager for Rapid tests at AroCell.
Bladder Cancer has the highest lifetime treatment cost per patient due to a high likelihood of recurrence and long-term invasive follow-up. Unfortunately, the need for cost-effective, non-invasive, and simple POC tools to minimize the healthcare burden will increase due to a worldwide aging population. The use of UBC® Rapid would reduce this burden due to the versatility of its applications, both as an aid in diagnosis and during the long follow-up period.
UBC® Rapid is a quantitative POC lateral flow immunoassay for aid in diagnosing and monitoring bladder cancer patients by detecting soluble fragments of cytokeratins (CK) 8 and 18. CK8 and CK18 are intercellular proteins expressed in most epithelial cells and released into urine due to apoptosis and necrosis. The elevated levels of cytokeratin fragments in the urine sample are an indication of epithelial tumor cell activity. Hence UBC® Rapid is a powerful diagnostic parameter in the primary diagnosis and follow-up of bladder cancer, especially for aggressive non-muscle invasive high-grade tumors, and tumors of the carcinoma in situ (CIS) type. The test is available in two versions, the first is a quantitative version that is read with the help of a reader, and the second one is only for visual reading.