Alere has launched what it claims is the world's first fingerstick b-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) test as an aid for the diagnosis and assessment of severity in patients with heart failure.
Providing rapid point-of-care BNP results to aid healthcare professionals in their decision-making processes, the compact BNP analyser provides lab-accurate results within 15min from a 12ul capillary blood sample.
The Alere Heart Check System is designed to aid in the diagnosis of heart failure, assess the severity of heart failure and enable risk stratification of patients with heart failure, as well as those with acute coronary syndromes.
The Alere Heart Check System consists of a portable, compact analysis platform and the Alere Heart Check BNP Test Strips.
The smart technology used in the test strips facilitates the simple testing process, making analysis quick, clean and easy.
The system offers an objective, non-invasive diagnostic tool at the point-of-care, with strong correlation to the predicate lab-based assay.
BNP levels can help doctors differentiate between heart failure and other problems, since the level of natriuretic peptides in the blood increases as chronic heart failure advances.
Timely heart failure treatment decisions at the point-of-care can accelerate diagnosis and treatment, and reduce readmission rates for heart failure patients and associated costs, according to the company.
The Alere Heart Check system is CE marked, which expresses conformity with the requirements of the European IVD Directive, and will initially be launched in Germany, Italy, Ireland, UK and Sweden.
A timeline for US and the rest of the world availability will be established shortly.
