Trade News
Basel, 3 May 2006
FDA clears the new
cobas 6000 analyzer series - the next generation
integrated analyzer for clinical chemistry and immunoassay testing
Roche
Diagnostics expands their innovative single solution to the mid-volume laboratory
Roche Diagnostics today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance on its next generation of analyzers, the cobas 6000 analyzer series. This analyzer provides laboratories with an integrated clinical chemistry (cobas c 501 analyzer) and immunoassay (cobas e 601 analyzer) testing platform which will be available in seven different configurations, all designed to meet the changing needs of mid-volume laboratories.
“Roche Diagnostics now offers a single solution for mid-sized laboratories– linking pre-analytics, analytics, and connectivity options. This new analyzer will significantly enhance the integrated testing capability we offer our customers, combining chemistry and immunoassay tests with reliability and ease of use”, said Volker Pfahlert, Head of Centralized Diagnostics, a business area of Roche Diagnostics.
The cobas 6000 analyzer series delivers approximately 95 percent of a mid-volume laboratory’s typical testing mix of more than 130 assays. This integrated, broad menu streamlines workflow processes and efficiency, running a throughput of up to 1,170 tests, per hour including a STAT interruption mode, which prioritizes STAT racks to be sampled within 60 seconds. The cobas 6000 analyzer series can accommodate front-end automation with the Modular Pre-Analyticssystem, eliminating off-line sample preparation and reducing the potential for human error. This yields higher quality, improved productivity, simplified workflow, and cost savings.
The cobas 6000 analyzer series also includes several unique features. The new sample probe can pipette whole blood (e.g. for HbA1c applications for Diabetes patients) and provides clot detection and liquid level detection to increases confidence in sample quality. The reaction disk has ultrasonic mixing which reduces maintenance and carry-over potential.
In addition, the analyzer includes cobas e-services, an on-line connectivity solution, which provides customers with fast, direct service, on-line training, and benchmark reporting. cobas link, as a part of e-services, automates manual tasks to keep the analyzer updated with the latest quality control. It also allows for improved troubleshooting and service via remote diagnostics.
The first three of seven configurations will be available for laboratories when the cobas 6000 analyzer series is launched later this summer: the cobas 6000 <501> clinical chemistry analyzer, the cobas 6000 <601> immunoassay analyzer, and the integrated cobas 6000 <501 | 601> analyzer series.
About
Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland,
Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals
and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of disease, the group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s
health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines
for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales by the Pharmaceuticals
Division totaled 27.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion
Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic
alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Roche’s
Diagnostics Division offers a uniquely broad product portfolio and supplies a wide array of innovative
testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide.
For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com
and www.roche-diagnostics.com