Laboratory Equipment and Personnel for Biomarker Testing

Plenty of competitors are in the race to effectively screen the population for cancer, the holy grail of disease prevention! In my view, Colostat stands out from the crowd for several reasons, perhaps the most important being this - the test is an immunoassay, processed on ELISA machines. These machines are widely used, existing in pathology labs, both large and small, in every country globally. Additionally, specialised training is not required to operate the machines, plus the operational mechanisms for maintenance and quality control measures are cost-effective and well-established.

In contrast, competitors to Colostat, utilise Mass Spectrometry machines to identify biomarkers in samples. Despite recent advances, there are significant roadblocks to the widespread adoption of these machines, primarily the high cost. Mass spectrometers can cost up to $500,000 USD or more which makes them generally 3 to 6 times more expensive than immunoassay equipment. Additionally, the preparation of reagents and samples for MS-based protein analysis is more extensive and requires more hands-on time than immunoassay workflows, increasing the amount of technologist time (and thereby labor cost). Lastly, the high technical proficiency needed for maintaining and troubleshooting MS systems requires specialist skills, which further increases costs.