As Pharma giant Roche continues its dive into the digital health realm, it is releasing a new self-testing device for INR or blood coagulation levels, that can wirelessly connect to a smartphone app. The CoaguChek Vantus system, which is designed for Warfarin patients to monitor their coagulation levels, includes built in Bluetooth technology. Patients can now see their results on the app and have the results sent to their healthcare provider wirelessly.
"As healthcare systems face continued pressure to deliver improved access to care at a lower cost, increased connectivity between healthcare providers and patients becomes even more important,” Dr. Alan Wright, chief medical officer at Roche Diagnostics, said in a statement. "This innovative technology sets the standard in coagulation monitoring by providing high quality, convenient testing, while optimizing the patient result reporting workflow.”
The device is designed so that patients won’t have to manually enter their results. According to the company, having the ability to test at home could lead to more engagement from patients, and improve patient’s target INR range.
CoaguChek Vantus will also help remind patients to test, flag results in relation to the target range and give patients the option to insert comments in results. It will also have the capability to report patient trends and give an overview on the stability of a patient’s anticoagulation levels.
The system, which is expected to launch commercially in the US this summer, is expected to cut down on lab visits and manual paper work.
This technology comes after Roche Diagnostics launched a similar product called the CoaguChek INRange system in several European countries in 2016, which also measures blood coagulation levels. However, the CoaguChek Vantus system is a US-specific version of the system. One thing that differs between the two products is the CoaguChek INRange has the option to display test results as INR, PT seconds or precentage quick, while the CoaguChek Vantus will only display in INR.
Roche has been dabbling in the digital health space for some time. Notably, the Swiss pharmaceutical company acquired oncology digital health and EHR startup Flatiron Health in February for a whopping $1.9 billion.
While it has been exploring the digital space, some of its journey has been rocky. In February the FDA issued a Class 2 Device Recall for the company’s Accu-Check Connect Diabetes Management App due to a bug that could lead users to self-administer inappropriate doses of insulin. This was the management app's fifth recall.
