Abaxis Inc. is giving doctors the option of receiving immediate, lab-accurate results through a new technology.

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There is always a certain amount of trepidation that comes with any new technology, especially in the healthcare industry, where lives are literally at stake. However, Abaxis Inc. CEO Clint Severson says his company is slowly but surely revolutionizing the healthcare world by providing physicians with a faster method of conducting blood analysis work.

Rather than using the traditional methods for blood chemistry testing, Abaxis gives doctors the option of receiving immediate, lab accurate results right in their own facilities. “The proposition we make our customers is that we will reduce their cycle time from hours or days to about 12 minutes,” Severson says.

More physicians and veterinarians in the United States and abroad are taking Abaxis up on its offer, and Severson says the company has nowhere to go but up. Out of the $4.9 billion chemistry diagnostics market, Abaxis’ piece is currently about $120 million, but Severson is confident the company can overcome the trepidation many have and can help point of care testing become the standard of care.

Founded in 1989, Abaxis acquired the rights to a technology developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for NASA to perform biochemical analysis in space. Abaxis used that technology to develop analyzers that could perform multiple blood tests from a single sample of whole blood. Today, the company has implemented that technology in two markets: medical and veterinary. The company says its Piccolo and VetScan analyzers can perform more than 90 percent of the general chemistry tests used in medical and veterinary diagnostics.

Faster and Better
Severson says the company’s products increase efficiencies for doctors and veterinarians by eliminating the middleman they often rely upon for blood work. In the medical sector, doctors have to send blood samples or their patients to a centralized laboratory for testing, and although the veterinary sector already has some tabletop analyzers available, they can’t use whole blood and require a trained operator.

Abaxis also continues to work with its customers to add new capabilities to its products. Severson says the company regularly receives requests from its customers to add new tests to the reagent discs of its analyzers. In the last few months, for example, the company added a heartworm test to its VetScan line of products, and it just received clearance in the U.S. market for C-Reactive Protein, which tests for inflammation and infections. “Clearly, the more tests that you have on your platform, the more attractive it is to physicians,” Severson says.

Making its products more attractive from a price point perspective is another area on which Abaxis is concentrating. The company is working to reduce its manufacturing costs so it can sell its products for about half the price it does now. Severson says a typical Abaxis analyzer costs about $10,000 to $15,000 now, but the company’s goal is to dramatically reduce the end user price as it works to reduce manufacturing costs and increase efficiencies. “In the medical market, everybody wants things faster and cheaper to use,” he says.

Breaking Through
Making its products as attractive as possible is a high priority for Abaxis, as Severson says a tabletop blood analyzer is something that has been met with skepticism from much of the profession. “On the medical side, no one’s ever successfully done this before,” he says.

Despite the many benefits of the company’s products, Severson says the market is still wary because of previous attempts at similar technology by other companies that did not deliver as promised. “In many cases, when you tell a physician they’ll have happier patients, more efficient operations and increased profits, it sounds too good to be true,” he says.

Currently, Abaxis is taking steps to increase its profile in the industry. It has been exhibiting at trade shows and conferences, as well as advertising in relevant journals. Severson says the company also is working to optimize its network of distributors, as well as inc­reasing its field sales organization.