Whether it’s new technologies that allow us to accurately diagnose diseases or develop important therapies, medical advances have helped people around the globe live longer and healthier lives.
During the past few decades, the Arab region has made significant strides in health development, improving overall health and prolonging life expectancies; however, challenges remain. Academic institutions, non-profit organizations and healthcare companies are working to address global health challenges–such as increases in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and infectious disease. That’s where companies such as Abbott play a pivotal role: Abbott employees around the world, including the more than 800 employees in the Middle East, are advancing leading-edge science and technologies to enable people in their pursuit of healthy lives.
The company highlighted some of its most recent advances in non-communicable and infectious diseases at this year’s Arab Health Congress 2014–the Middle East’s largest healthcare conference–where more than 80,000 global healthcare and medical professionals convened in Dubai to learn about the latest medical practices and technologies that are being used to help treat patients around the world. Abbott shared several products that have recently been launched or are currently in development across its diverse portfolio, including:
Cardiovascular disease
Preliminary data suggest that Abbott’s ARCHITECT STATHigh Sensitive Troponin-I test (hsTnI) may help doctors better recognize and diagnose patients presenting with symptoms of a heart attack.1 Dr. Anoop Shah, cardiology research fellow from the University of Edinburgh and one of the key authors of the study, is working with a team of researchers to evaluate Abbott's hsTnI test, which could be particularly beneficial for women, who may have different presenting symptoms and are often under-diagnosed.2 The test received CE Mark in January 2013 and is currently under development in the United States.
Diabetes
During the congress, Abbott highlighted the importance of using individually-wrapped test strips for blood glucose monitoring that reinforces the highest standards of safety, especially for hospital usage. The individually-wrapped FreeStyle Optium Blood Glucose Test Strips are an alternative for hospitals to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention3 and Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute4 recommendations about supplies and medications taken to a patient’s bedside during finger stick monitoring or insulin administration, to avoid possible inadvertent contamination.
The FreeStyle Optium Blood Glucose Monitoring System key features include:
- No coding for easy testing
- Foil wrapped test strips to minimize the risk of cross-contamination5
- Checks both blood glucose and blood ketones
- Back light for night time testing
Infectious disease
Currently in development, Abbott’s new Ibis testing platform is designed to detect infections in critically-ill patients and potentially impact the way infections are diagnosed. Current diagnostic tools often cannot identify the source of the infection in time for doctors to treat patients with the appropriate, potentially life-saving therapies. This is especially true for the increasing number of patients with compromised immune systems.
Abbott’s pending technology is a sophisticated DNA multiplex testing platform. Once approved, the platform will test and rapidly identify multiple pathogens within hours, using a single clinical sample and a single test. The next generation platform is expected to be available in Europe approximately in 12-14 months, followed by other key markets and FDA clearance after completion of U.S. registration clinical trials.
For more information:
1 Anoop S., Mills N., Griffiths M., et al. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin and the underdiagnosis of myocardial infarction in women. Study presented at the ESC Congress 2013, Sept. 4, 2013.
2 Pope JH, Aufderheide TP, Ruthazer R, et al. Missed diagnoses of acute cardiac ischemia in the emergency department. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000; 342:1163-1170.
3 http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Settings/GlucoseMonitoring.htm. Accessed April 8, 2014.
4 Clinica Chimica Acta, May 2012. journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/clinchim. Accessed April 8, 2014.
5 Clinica Chimica Acta, May 2012. journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/clinchim.
6 On file at Microbe Inotech Laboratories, Inc., St. Louis, MO., Report MILB-8486A, March 2012.
SIGA A ABBOTT