US Patent On Automated Ultra-Filtration System ChroMedX Receives US Patent On Automated Ultra-Filtration System
https://www.chromedx.com/xchromedx-receives-us-patent-on-automated-ultrafiltration-system
April 6, 2017 – ChroMedX Corp. (the “Company”) (CSE: CHX, OTC: MNLIF, Frankfurt: EIY2), developer of the HemoPalm Handheld Blood Analyzer System, is pleased to announce that it has received formal Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its Automated Ultra Filtration (AUF) technology patent Pat. Application No. 14/725,690, which was filed on May 29, 2015.
The Company’s AUF technology will allow the preparation of ultra-filtrates of serum and plasma samples, for measurement of free therapeutic drugs and hormones to be done quickly on an automated system. Tests for hormone and therapeutic drug levels are usually performed using immunoassays performed on laboratory immunoanalyzers. An immunoassay cannot discriminate the free drugs/hormones from the bound drugs/hormones. In order to measure the “free” drug/hormone, an additional manual step of separating the protein-free fraction from the sample must be taken. This is done by a process that incorporates either equilibrium dialysis or centrifugation. About eighteen hours are required to perform equilibrium dialysis, and thirty minutes are required for centrifugation to separate protein-free serum/plasma, referred to as a serum/plasma ultra-filtrate.
ChroMedX plans to build disposable AUF cartridges, which can be used on an automatic workstation. This method will shorten the test time considerably with minimum pre-processing involvement.
“We are pleased with this Notice of Allowance from the USPTO and it adds another valuable patent to the Company’s IP portfolio. With the increased demand for fast test results at low cost, our AUF technology is ideally suited for this application. The Company will soon commence development of AUF, shortly after we have completed the assembly of the HemoPalm prototype device.” said Ash Kaushal, President & CEO, ChroMedX Corp.
The global immunoassay market is expected to reach USD 25.45 Billion by 2021 from USD 17.16 Billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 8.2% from 2016 to 2021. The therapeutic drug monitoring market alone is projected to reach USD 2.55 Billion by 2020 from USD 1.78 Billion in 2015, during the forecast period (2015–2020) while the global endocrine testing market was valued at around USD 7.00 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach approximately USD 10.50 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 8.5% between 2016 and 2021.
A preliminary market study has shown that there are approximately 100,000 independent and hospital laboratories in the US, not including physicians’ offices, many of which could benefit from the AUF technology by reducing costs and time required for sample processing, and providing better patient care.
In September 2015, two Canadian versions of the patent were allowed, listed as below
1. CA No. 2,876,445 entitled "AUTOMATED ULTRA-FILTRATION SYSTEM", and
2. CA No. 2,876,602 entitled "AUTOMATED ULTRA-FILTRATION WORKSTATION".
Similar patents are pending in Europe and India.
A complete list of the Company’s intellectual property can be found on the ChroMedX website at https://www.chromedx.com/intellectual-property/
About ChroMedX Corp.
ChroMedX Corp. is a medical technology company focused on the development of novel medical devices for in vitro diagnostics and point-of-care testing. The devices are protected by the Company’s issued and pending patents, dealing with blood collection, analysis and plasma/serum processing.
The HemoPalm Handheld Blood Analyzer System is the only handheld blood analysis technology which combines Blood Gases & Electrolytes with full CO-oximetry. Currently this combination is not available on any of the handheld analyzers on the market. Existing technologies require users to purchase a second device to carry out the CO-oximetry. The Company’s technology has the advantage of being able to offer a single handheld blood analyzer that provides all the required tests for Blood Gases & Electrolytes, with full CO-oximetry and bilirubin. Another competitive advantage of the HemoPalm system will be its ability to draw capillary blood directly from a pin-pri ck site into the cartridge, providing an alternative to arterial blood. Drawing arterial blood is painful and can cause nerve damage. CO-oximetry is the measurement of five different hemoglobin species in blood.