Beacon Sciences introduces new diagnostic assay for creatinine

Unlike existing assays, Beacon said that it has created this assay using a synthetic receptor for this compound that replaces traditional enzyme and antibody based approaches. Many additional compounds can be detected using this proprietary method which ultimately will allow more testing to be done at the point-of-care, physician office lab, and home settings, said Beacon.

The new color change assay technology has been developed to work in a common lateral flow format, similar to a pregnancy strip test. The assay can be analyzed in seconds using a miniaturized hand-held reader technology that Beacon Sciences has developed in conjunction with the assay.

According to the company, the unique features of the new product line stem from the assay’s inherent ability to display visual color change as a result of the test. This, in combination with a hand-held reader to give quantitative results, offers the potential of simplicity and speed over existing methods. In addition, the assay allows reliable samples to be taken from urine versus traditional blood and serum samples.

The new assay technology can now be combined with existing assays already in the marketplace, and will allow the existing assays to more accurately predict kidney function and the effect it has on key metabolic markers, according to Beacon.

Damon Borich, president of Beacon Sciences, said: “We believe the color changing assay technology platform could be worth $50 million within the next five years if applied to the correct suite of novel biomarkers. In essence, this technology has the promise to correlate more closely urine metabolite values with actual blood and serum values, thus offering a new means for non-invasive diagnostic testing.”