Medical diagnostics solutions for inflammatory bowel disease sector - Medical / Health Care
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), largely comprising the two conditions, Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, is now emerging as a global health problem. It now affects about 6 million people in Europe and US, comprising up to 620,000 in the UK (IBD Standards UK, 2013 Update). The symptoms of diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bloody stool substantially affect the quality of life of sufferers, and complications can be life threatening. IBD is also strongly associated with colorectal cancer development risk.
Cytological appearance of samples collected using the DiagNodus method from a healthy volunteer (a) and patients with ulcerative colitis (b) and Crohn`s disease (c)
The DiagNodus approach currently provides a simple, self-applied method for colorectal sample collection and reliable tests for determining bowel inflammation activity. These innovative techniques have been shown to be efficient for detecting IBD and distinguishing patients suffering from IBD from individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (a very common functional disorder producing similar symptoms). In addition, the DiagNodus technology can be used for assessing therapy effect in IBD patients who are undergoing treatment and monitoring those who are in remission (for detecting new disease flare-ups early).
Having established and clinically evaluated a range of tests involving laboratory analysis, the company is now developing a family of rapid point of care (POC) tests for IBD.