Allergy Testing in many cases difficult to access for patients – FastCheckPOC offers a new „Gold Standard“ Solution

Schwerin, January 2013 // Current methods of allergy testing are in many cases expensive, difficult to administer and often not easily accessible in first line diagnosis medical practice. According to the WHO White Book on Allergy the prevalence of allergic diseases and asthma are increasing worldwide, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Moreover, the complexity and severity of allergic diseases, including asthma, continue to increase especially in children and young adults, who are bearing the greatest burden of these trends. Allergic diseases include life-threatening anaphylaxis, food allergies, certain forms of asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, angioedema, urticaria, eczema, eosinophilic disorders, including eosinophilic esophagitis, and drug and insect allergies. Globally, 300 million people suffer from asthma and about 200 to 250 million people suffer from food allergies. One tenth of the population suffers from drug allergies and 400 million from rhinitis. Asthma prevalence is rising in several high as well as low and middle-income countries and the prevalence and impact of allergic diseases continue to grow. According to the World Health Organization, the number of patients having asthma is 300 million and with the rising trends it is expected to increase to 400 million, by 2025.

In light of this global threat, and with regard to the millions of allergy tests conducted each day, DST’s product innovation FastCheckPOC® represents a long-needed milestone in the development of first line diagnostic test devices: due to its unique technology, the FastCheckPOC® completely satisfies all requirements of a first line diagnostic tool for early detection of allergies and food intolerance.

Whereas current methods for allergy diagnosis can be costly, cumbersome to administer and requiring time and logistics the FastCheckPOC® delivers accurate results in only 30 minutes time. The device can be used directly at the point of care, is easy to operate and delivers semi-quantitative results while requiring only a few drops of blood from a fingertip or earlobe.

The FastCheckPOC® will be officially presented at this year’s Arab Health, which takes place in Dubai, UAE, from 28th to 31th January, 2013. “We recognised the danger presented by the inadequate access to first line diagnostic alternatives for allergy detection, and know that the FastCheckPOC® will be indispensable for the urgently needed alternatives in the medical sector, to guarantee easy, affordable and quick access of allergy testing to each and every patient”, explained Dr. Stefan Siewers, General Manager and CEO of DST GmbH , Germany, prior to the imminent trade show presentation.

The product technology has been validated in major European markets and dealer commitments have already been approved in many European, and several Asian countries. The Global launch of the FastCheckPOC® is continuing into the first half of 2013. For more information about DST, the FastCheckPOC® and its platform technology please visit the Company’s websites at www.dst-diagnostic.com.

About DST:

The company is of German origin, located in Schwerin, with distribution point’s throughout the world. DST is occupying purpose-built GMP manufacturing facilities and holds all the necessary ISO and CE certifications.

The company owns intellectual property relating to unique allergy detection, technologies, which can be suited to a variety of markets in the healthcare industry and nutritional advice givers.

DST is currently focused on developing allergy detection solutions for the global healthcare market. Initial applications are designed for the first line of diagnostic health care providers. The FastCheckPOC® is specifically designed to detect allergies and food intolerance at the first line of diagnosis. The FastCheckPOC® technology surpasses the limitations of current methods by offering it in a fast, safe, affordable and convenient way.