Leading medical diagnostics and pharmaceuticals company, Roche has unveiled its latest molecular diagnostics system that will help clinicians offer faster and more accurate laboratory results across Africa and other parts of the world - including at smaller hospitals, clinics and public health laboratories.
The new cobas® 5800, which is a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing system, was launched in Africa last week. This new, advanced technology molecular diagnostics system is the first cobas® 5800 on African soil, with the fully operational machine installed at the Roche Scientific Centre in Johannesburg.
It is a more compact, fully-automated and cost-saving system that will enable smaller, localised laboratories to have the ability to diagnose a variety of medical conditions quickly.
It’s aimed at providing timely results, without having clinicians send tests to larger laboratories, so patients can receive results and best treatment strategies faster.
The latest addition to the Roche family, the cobas® 5800 is built upon the innovation of the cobas® 6800 and cobas® 8800 systems, which cater for more large-scale centralised laboratories.
Testing is one of the first lines of defence to protect a patient’s general well-being, and is vitally important in quickly guiding treatment.
The cobas® 5800 will improve patient care and expand access to testing for infectious diseases transmitted via respiratory, sexually and transplant in much smaller laboratories in communities across the African continent where healthcare faces access barriers.
“The cobas® 5800 system is a potential gateway to access, where it is needed the most. Patients in Africa face barriers to access throughout their healthcare journey. Among the most pressing barriers are awareness, diagnostics, funding and healthcare capacity,” said Alan Yates, Ad-Interim General Manager for Roche Diagnostics, Southern Africa.
He said the compact, fully automated molecular system will also help address the high demand on laboratories for faster diagnosis, which has increased dramatically since the Covid-19 outbreak throughout the world.
“We are pleased that we can now offer a compact, fully-automated molecular system to help address the high demands on labs through greater efficiency, optimised workflows and cost savings - enabling them to deliver quality patient care and do now what patients need next,” Yates said during the launch in Midrand, Johannesburg.
The cobas® 5800 system is able to process between 20 and 150 samples per day, and deliver up to 528 results in 24 hours. It offers a broad menu of more than 25 different tests, including testing for Covid-19, Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis, with more assays expected to be added to the system in the future.
This will allow laboratories, especially those catering to smaller communities across Africa with limited space and funding, to consolidate about 90% of routine testing on a single platform.
Apart from testing patients for infectious diseases, the cobas® 5800 is also aimed at conducting donor screening. This means that blood banks across the continent would be able to screen donor blood faster.
John Abwao, Roche Diagnostics HIV global access programme product manager, said that within the Covid-19 crisis, laboratories had the opportunity to contribute to the healthcare space.
“When the Covid pandemic hit us, it hit us hard - and we needed to deliver diagnosis quicker. We had the opportunity to add value to the whole healthcare system,” he said.
When explaining the development of the cobas® 5800, Abwao said they asked themselves many questions during the development stages, including how Roche would be able to offer a solution that was able to provide better patient diagnosis at a much faster rate.
“We asked ourselves how we can provide a solution that will maximise automation; a solution that will empower laboratories and employees to do more. A solution that will prosper long term growth in the healthcare industry,” he said.
Abwao said the cobas® 5800 has ultimately been developed to answer those key questions.
“The cobas® 5800 will allow the laboratories to access its true potential to maximise on diagnostic solutions,” he said.
Abwao explained that the cobas® 5800 can be integrated into existing information technology infrastructure, and is fully automated to limit hands-on time and improve staff productivity.
“It is capable of processing up to six assays in a single run, while samples and assays can be prioritised as needed,” Abwao said. He added that the system is enclosed, ensuring the safety of samples from contamination.
Read more about Roche Diagnostics here.