Roche Diagnostics introduces STAT immunoassays for cardiac biomarker testing

Roche Diagnostics (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that it has introduced a complete battery of STAT immunoassays for cardiac biomarker testing on the cobas® 6000 analyzer series, an integrated system designed for diagnostic labs with medium testing volumes. With a 9-minute duration, the assays are faster than any other cardiac immunoassay tests currently available on an integrated platform and enable labs to deliver results to doctors treating cardiac patients in about half the time of standard Roche tests. The tests complement a line of existing STAT cardiac assays for Roche's stand-alone platform, the cobas 4000 series.

"In critical care environments that require rapid decision-making, this new line of STAT assays can help healthcare facilities meet current cardiac care turnaround time guidelines," said Hans-Juergen Loyda, Ph.D., MBA, director of clinical development and education at Roche Diagnostics Corporation. "Making the tests available on the cobas 6000 series gives labs the option to run Roche STAT assays on either stand-alone or integrated platforms."

The new 9-minute STAT immunoassay tests include troponin T, troponin I, CK-MB, myoglobin and NT-proBNP and run on the cobas e 601 analyzer, part of the cobas 6000 analyzer series, an integrated platform that offers both clinical chemistry and immunoassay testing. The STAT tests are virtually equivalent to Roche's 18-minute tests in performance, precision and sensitivity.

The cardiac STAT assays can all be run with one simple blood draw via the Roche OneTUBE solution, which consists of a single lithium heparin tube that can be run on any of Roche's integrated platforms. By allowing a single technician to process a single draw from a single point of entry instead of drawing multiple tubes for cardiac tests on multiple analyzers, the OneTUBE solution helps to simplify sample handling and reduce the need for sample splitting.