Healthcare systems are struggling with growing waiting lists, so care is shifting from hospitals closer to patients — all the way into their homes. The speaker introduced low-cost, digitally connected, clinical-quality tests that send the result to a doctor straight from the living room. The first is CRP to distinguish viral and bacterial infections, with others focusing on women’s health.
How a digitally connected test works
The foundation is low-cost lateral flow strips, paired with a pocket-sized reader smaller than the palm of your hand. The reader connects to a phone via Bluetooth, and the app sends the result directly to the clinician, even when the patient performs the test at home. During the pandemic, the team, with support from the UK government, developed a COVID-19 test whose key benefit was automatic reporting of every measurement. Digital connectivity thus combines patient convenience with clinician oversight.
Thanks to electrochemical measurement, the tests are quantifiable, more sensitive, and entirely objective. The patient does not see raw data; the result remains in the clinician’s hands, reducing the risk of misinterpretation. The price for the user is less than 2 euros and the reader costs under 30 euros, while the manufacturing cost of the test rises by less than 10%. Clinical-grade measurement is thus available in a simple and cost-effective format.
CRP today, women’s health tomorrow
The first product is a C-reactive protein (CRP) test, one of the most commonly assessed biomarkers in medicine. It is intended to help curb unnecessary antibiotic prescribing by distinguishing likely viral and bacterial infections. CRP is already part of clinical pathways in the United Kingdom, and more than 12 clinical studies have shown that CRP testing can reduce antibiotic prescriptions. Launch is planned for the second half of 2025, with use in pharmacies, long-term care facilities, and directly in households.
This platform will be followed by a series of tests for women’s health, beginning with a menopause test in 2026. The aim is to enable women to better understand their own bodies and continuously track key indicators in the comfort of home. The team is also seeking partners in big data and artificial intelligence, as connected tests open a “window into the body” and enrich datasets with new, clinically relevant information. In this way, home diagnostics becomes not only accessible, but also data-rich for the healthcare of the future.
