There is a growing demand for point-of-care testing or bedside testing in the last few decades. It provides convenience to the patient and quicker results to the healthcare providers for faster clinical management decisions. The challenge is to keep it affordable and accessible.
Cell ID Pte Ltd, a Singapore SME, whose founders have in-depth expertise in electronics and manufacturing, recognised the challenges and the potential opportunity it could address. Through collaboration with external partners, it leveraged mature printing technologies to develop affordable near-field point-of-care (nf-POC) devices for disease diagnostics. Cell ID had created a novel packaging for its nf-POC diagnostic kits to detect human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and was looking for a clinical partner to validate its newly designed and packaged HIV diagnostic kits.
In 2015, IPI matched Cell ID with the Clinical Immunology Laboratory of the Department of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology Clinic in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). Following several rounds of discussion, Cell ID and TTSH entered into an agreement to validate Cell ID’s HIV diagnostic kits. Through this collaboration, Cell ID was able to validate its Smart HIV 1/2 Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) device and received product registration from the Health Science Authority (HSA) in September 2016.
“Cell ID is very pleased with the match made with TTSH by IPI. We are very grateful to Dr Leong Khai Pang, Senior Consultant at the Clinical Immunology Laboratory and his team for their support during this validation exercise. The introduction made by IPI has enabled Cell ID to accelerate its product development to market. We have received a strong order for our Smart HIV 1/2 RDT for the worldwide market and expect to introduce the product in the first quarter in 2018,” said Xander Sim, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Cell ID Pte Ltd.
“IPI is delighted to support Cell ID, a highly innovative company that embraces external partnership to accelerate their product development. Besides TTSH, IPI has matched Cell ID to other innovation and industry partners who are now working with Cell ID on their new products. We look forward to supporting them in their Open Innovation journey,” said Dr Sze Tiam Lin, Senior Director, IPI.
