Fjord Diagnostics
Take Diagnostic Accuracy to the Next Level

More often than not, a gaping hole remains indiscernible until it falls into one’s line of vision.

Take the case of sample preparation in medical diagnostics.

The world today, in a manner of speaking, has come to a standstill in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With scientists and researchers working incessantly and conducting numerous clinical trials, a real antidote for the virus is yet to be found. In the absence of proven vaccines and therapies, the only effective weapon against COVID-19 is diagnostic testing. However, within the ample framework of ambiguity, complexity, and inconsistency, the widely used COVID-19 RT-PCR test is often inconsistent in generating reliable results. “An important issue with the current RT-PCR test is the risk of eliciting false-negative and false-positive results,” remarks industry-expert, Robin Chin. Long before the pandemic spreading globally, the healthcare fraternity has been struggling to come up with better, efficient, and affordable alternatives in pathological and clinical laboratory testing.

A Paradigm Shift in Medical Diagnostics

Luckily, all that has changed with the arrival of Fjord Diagnostics. To equip researchers and clinicians with a more robust testing approach, Fjord Diagnostics is ushering in technology breakthrough and product innovation with its proprietary patent-pending SEDIPREP^® Sample Preparation Technology platform and its possible sample pre-concentration applications. The company’s SEDIPREP^® COVID-19 sample preparation is set to revolutionize the current testing approaches.

Having a complete operation chain from R&D to manufacturing to sales & marketing, Fjord Diagnostics’ core business operation revolves around its unique proprietary patent pending Reverse Filtration Process Technology platform that profoundly penetrates the field of Urinalysis, Cytology, Microbiology, and Life Sciences.

When it comes to the diagnostic approaches utilized for COVID-19, the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, abbreviated as RT-PCR, is the most commonly used testing technique. The sample collection for the COVID-19 RT-PCR test mainly involves the swabbing of upper respiratory tracts. However, swab samples procure insufficient COVID-19 content, precisely, low viral yield, which can result in false-negatives. This is where Fjord Diagnostic’s innovative SEDIPREP^® COVID-19 sample preparation tool comes to play. The innovative, easy-to-use device helps in the rapid sample pre-concentration prior to RNA extraction of the RT-PCR test. What makes this device second to none and truly innovative is its ability to further concentrate the viral load up to six times its initial concentration. Thus, the improved detection sensitivity of the SEDIPREP^® device significantly enhances the RT-PCR test accuracy and eliminates false-negative results.

Chin, Managing Director, Fjord Diagnostics, mentions that the leading technologies presently used for the pre-concentration of samples are either centrifugation or filtration.

However, the major drawback of centrifugation is the high degree of material loss due to decantation. Owing to the high centrifugal speed required to palletize a sample for a specific period, tiny sediment particles are left behind in the supernatant after centrifugation, is discarded. While, filtration, particularly the dead-end filtration used in the laboratories which is based on size exclusion principle to retain data particles, however, has its usage limitations due to membrane clogging. Chin explains that both the methods can compromise the accuracy of results. “With our reverse filtration technology, you can easily avoid membrane clogging and facilitate a more accurate pre-concentration sample required for testing,” adds Chin.

With our reverse filtration technology, you can easily avoid membrane clogging and facilitate a more accurate pre-concentration sample required for testing

To add, the impeccable benefits of Fjord Diagnostics’ reverse filtration technology extends to fields like full and microscopic examination of urine, or urine FEME and Tuberculosis (TB) microscopy testing. Urine FEME (which mainly includes sedimentation and determination of the RBC/WBC count) detects any abnormalities in the blood cells and usually relies on the traditional gold standard urine sediment centrifugation microscopy test. However, this method is errorprone, with data particles losses as high as up to 60 percent of urine sediment particles in the centrifugal supernatant can be discarded, resulting in test result anomalies. The advanced SEDIPREP^® patent pending reverse filtration process enables the recovery of all the vital sediment particles existing in a defined urine volume for analysis by eliminating laborious and errorprone steps. On the other hand, by using the SEDIPREP^® rapid sputum Tuberculosis microscopy, Fjord Diagnostics is enabling early detection of TB causing mycobacterium. By pre-treating and pre-concentrating critical sputum, the device facilitates better mycobacterium yield and efficient removal of obscuring mucus from the slides, adding to better slide clarity, thus delivering more accurate results.

Adding one more feather to its plethora of innovative solutions is Fjord Diagnostics’ SEDICYT^™, a thin layer liquid-based cytology preparation for the non-gynecological specimen. Powered by the CY-PREP® dual filtration LBC preparation system combining with the innovative, user friendly SEDIPREP^® Sample Preparation, the solution promises a hundred percent recovery yield, thus improving the diagnostic sensitivity and the adequacy of cytological evaluation. The advanced anatomic pathological solution promises more accurate results as compared to the conventional non-gynaecological specimen smear, or the centrifugation-based non-gynaecological LBC preparation from existing LBC players, which are primarily focused on diagnosing non-gynaecological disorders.

As a fast-rising diagnostic company, Fjord Diagnostics is on a path toward revolutionizing the testing technologies in the IVD sector. Propelled by its widely accepted reverse filtration technology, the company is cementing its foothold in the diagnostic community. The company is seeking to further augment and establish its technology by partnering with influential players in the sector having similar goals. Backed by skilled and experienced talent, the Fjord Diagnostics is charting a course for redefining the future of diagnosis.