Roche will expand its coagulation testing product line in North America beyond physician offices and outpatient clinics with the development of a full line of coagulation analyzers for hospital and reference laboratories. The new line is expected to be introduced in the US and Canada in 2014, subject to regulatory approval and other requirements.
Roche Diagnostics is the global market leader in coagulation (blood clotting) testing at the point of care, offering the CoaguChek® line of handheld meters for use by health care professionals and patients. The new line of analyzers for the central coagulation lab, which will be marketed under Roche’s cobas® brand, is expected to include three platforms that address a range of customer needs, from low-volume testing to the high-throughput demands of commercial laboratories, along with a complete menu of coagulation assays.
The announcement follows the statement earlier today that, effective January 1, 2012, Roche Diagnostics and Diagnostica Stago will pursue separate paths in laboratory coagulation in territories where Roche distributes the Stago line of lab coagulation analyzers. Roche does not currently distribute Stago products in the US or Canada, so the introduction of the new lab coagulation product line will represent a significant move into a new market for Roche in both countries.
Source: Roche
