Technologies / Hema Express Platform

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is one of the four major components of an effective HIV/AIDS management program (the other three being: education, prevention, and treatment) in developing nations.

The testing component has been among the most troublesome elements because of the absence of effective diagnostic tools for the environment in which these diseases exist. This means reaching people in remote areas or deep in the inner city who need to be tested with immediate results because they will not come back at a later date on their own initiative.

A cost effective rapid diagnostic test that can provide accurate results at the point of care in less than twenty minutes is a sought after solution. Standard fingerstick tests available from current manufacturers use a number of individual components which are necessary to run the tests. These are subject to damage in the harsh field conditions and can lead to risky and unnecessary exposure to potentially infected blood. Having multiple components also increases the likelihood of human error when carrying out the tests, leading to erroneous results.

The Rapid 1-2-3® HEMA EXPRESS® is a new and novel diagnostic platform technology, which is safe, minimally invasive, simple to use and easy to read. The unique design is a complete self-contained test that eliminates the need for any external equipment or laboratory interpretation. This makes using the Rapid 1-2-3 HEMA® EXPRESS® in the field and in remote locations easy and simple. It can be stored at room temperature and requires no refrigeration at any point of the process which makes it very stable in temperature ranging from ambient temperature to temperature exceeding 100°F. It is ideal for developing countries that cannot afford highly trained individuals staffing sophisticated laboratories.

Each Rapid 1-2-3® HEMA EXPRESS® assay is color coded to make it easily distinguishable to health care workers in the field. This color coding is used in both the strip itself and the end caps in the housing. For simplicity the Rapid 1-2-3® HEMA EXPRESS® HIV test is red, all malaria tests are green, the tuberculosis test (upon commercialization) will be yellow, and the syphilis test is orange.

The RAPID 1-2-3® HEMA EXPRESS® technology has a number of unique features and benefits as follows:

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