The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the shift of clinical diagnostic assays from the laboratory to the home setting. While other industries have recently experienced a surge in consumer empowerment, healthcare as a field has been slow to adopt new technologies that fit this pattern of consumerization. This I-Corps project seeks to evaluate the market for one such technology: mobile-phone linked point-of-care diagnostic tests. During the award period, the team will assess consumer preferences, identify customer concerns, and evaluate product-market fit for these diagnostic tests. The successful completion of the proposed project has the potential to expand access, both financially and geographically, to accurate clinical assays.
This I-Corps project aims to evaluate the commercial potential of a new type of at-home diagnostic test. These tests are analyzed by a mobile phone, which then securely transmits results to a patient's electronic medical records. This technology has previously been demonstrated for infectious diseases of global concern, specifically: malaria and HIV. In previous work, it has been shown that these mobile-phone analyzed tests can be as sensitive as expensive laboratory instrumentation for test analysis. In addition, these tests are user-friendly and require minimal instruction prior to use. Importantly, this makes them amenable to at-home use by the general population.
