Basel, April 2nd, 2015 – BÜHLMANN is pleased to announce the launch of IBDoc®, the first in-vitro diagnostic test to measure the fecal inflammation marker calprotectin at home. IBDoc® just received a CE mark for patient self testing and is a revolutionary new test for gut inflammation aimed at people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis
A revolutionary technology for patient empowerment in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, a new tool for patients to gain control over their disease and connect to the physician
IBDoc® eliminates the need for patients to bring stool samples to the clinic for analysis. Instead it’s simple to use technology combining a stool extraction device CALEX®, a calprotectin test strip and the IBDoc® smart phone app to read the test result by state of the art image processing, allows IBD patients to actively participate in their disease management and communicate with the health care providers via the internet as well.
The backbone of this home test system is the IBDoc® web portal for patient data management that keeps the IBD patient under constant vigilance of the responsible health care professional for real time support. The IBDoc® portal is designed with the highest security standards to keep confidential patient data safe. “IBDoc® offers a level of patient empowerment for IBD patients comparable with what blood sugar home testing did for diabetic patients a generation ago”, says Dr. Chris Moore, CPO at BÜHLMANN Laboratories, “for this we had to make stool testing as simple as possible. ” “The feedback from enrolled patients so far is phenomenal”, says Dr. Christian Reinhard, IBDoc® Product Manager – “patients are so motivated and they really like to be in charge and at the same time communicating with their nurse or physician Calprotectin measured in stool is a non-invasive biomarker for gastrointestinal inflammation. It correlates well with lesions and with endoscopic scores of disease activity in both, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Fecal calprotectin is superior to classically used blood biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation and others.
In 2008 BÜHLMANN started developing the vision of patient empowerment and home testing. BÜHLMANN collaborates in a network of high-tech companies specialized in plastic molding, IT, and specialty diagnostics. CALEX® is a Swiss CTI-sponsored Project. “Without the excellent network of scientific collaborations and the support of CTI and EU research programs, IBDoc® would not have been possible”, says Dr. Thomas Hafen, CEO of BÜHLMANN. “IBDoc® is a milestone for patients, but also a milestone in the still young history of smart phone based clinical applications. Never before has such a sophisticated biologic test system been brought to patients’ homes.” BÜHLMANN is a leading global calprotectin company, offering the widest menu of calprotectin testing for high-throughput medical laboratories (BÜHLMANN fCAL® ELISA, BÜHLMANN fCAL® turbo) as well as for smaller IBD clinics, hospitals or laboratories (Quantum Blue® calprotectin). The BÜHLMANN Group includes affiliates in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Brazil, and has a global presence through a network of more than 70 distributors. BÜHLMANN is privately owned and provides specialty in-vitro diagnostics to medical laboratories and hospitals since 1976.