Trade News
Rotkreuz/Switzerland, 22. October 2009
Roche launches new professional Point of Care coagulation monitoring system
Well over two million patients on anticoagulation therapy with Vitamin K antagonists are currently tested using a CoaguChek® system. By introducing the newest member of the CoaguChek family, Roche offers a solution tailored to the needs of healthcare professionals in anticoagulation clinics and other settings with a high throughput of PT/INR tests. The meter, named CoaguChek XS Pro system, is commercially available in Europe and in all countries recognizing the CE mark within the EMEA, South America and Asia-Pacific regions. *
There has been an extraordinary increase in the use of Vitamin K antagonists (VKA), driven mainly by an ageing population. Millions of patients receive VKA therapy because of indications such as atrial fibrillation, mechanical heart valves, deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. In order to monitor VKA therapy efficacy and safety by finding the balance between the beneficial prevention of blood clotting on the one hand and potentially life-threatening bleedings on the other, frequent INR measurement is required. “During the development of the CoaguChek XS Pro system, we were able to build on over 15 years of experience from Roche in Point of Care INR monitoring“, said Nicolas Rufin, Marketing Manager at Roche. “By using the CoaguChek XS Pro system, busy healthcare professionals can rely on high quality INR results to adapt their patients’ VKA therapy on-the-spot.“
The CoaguChek XS Pro system shares the same proven technology platform with the CoaguChek XS Plus system, designed for use in smaller settings such as doctor’s practices, and with the CoaguChek XS system, designed for patients self-testing at home. The CoaguChek XS Pro system’s most prominent feature is an integrated barcode scanner, which allows to quickly capture operator and patient ID, and add them to the data set. „This reduction of workflow steps enhances safety and productivity and ultimately means better quality of care and more quality time with the patient,“ said Patrick Wieghardt, Product Manager at Roche.
The CoaguChek XS Pro can easily be connected to cobas IT 1000 software, Roche's point of care IT solution in the hospital.
About the system
Besides the barcode scanner, the CoaguChek XS Pro system offers other new and enhanced functions. Additional features include adding comments to PT/INR and Quality Control results, an improved TFT display that provides more descriptive screens and images, as well as an extended memory that stores 1000 test and 500 QC results.
The touch screen and user interface layout has been optimized to meet the needs of healthcare professionals in a busy environment and to drive the harmonization and consolidation with other widely used point of care devices from Roche such as the Accu-Chek inform II for blood glucose and the cobas h 232 system for cardiac markers.
Using a tiny 8 µl drop of blood from an almost pain-free fingerstick, INR results from the CoaguChek XS Pro are available in typically less than one minute. They compare very well to WHO reference method, to reagents used in high quality laboratories and to CoaguChek XS patient system.
*The CoaguChek® XS Pro system is not yet available in the US.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2008, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested almost 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 45.6 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.
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