New Niji™ System builds on earlier pioneering project for Vivacta
Novartis have launched a new point of care diagnostic system that could speed up diagnosis and treatment of major allergy-related disorders like severe allergic asthma. The Niji™ System allows clinicians to test patients’ IgE (Immunoglobulin E) levels quickly and conveniently in an office setting, accelerating treatment decisions and potentially improving patient care and outcomes.
Novartis’ new system, which requires only one to two droplets of fingerstick blood to deliver results in just twelve minutes, builds on an earlier point-of-care system developed with product design experts Maddison for start-up company Vivacta, subsequently sold to Novartis for USD 90 million in 2012. Maddison managing director Vincent Ellis said: “Maddison played an essential role in the development of the cartridge and reader to make use of piezofilm technology. This state of the art platform technology can now potentially be applied across various disease areas and Maddison continue to pioneer innovative product design in the medical treatment and diagnostic fields.”
Identifying patients with uncontrolled asthma mediated by IgE remains an area of high unmet need. In the UK, 5.4 million people are living with asthma and every 10 seconds someone is having a potentially life-threatening asthma attack. Point of care testing in the GP’s office has the potential to reduce the time from consultation to diagnosis and to treatment decision, leading to improved patient outcomes. Current IgE tests are performed in central laboratories and it can take up to several weeks before results are known.
Novartis Niji™ incorporates innovative product design by Maddison Ltd
Maddison Limited is a product design consultancy with a passion for creating products for the medical, scientific, industrial and consumer goods markets that truly meet and exceed user expectations. We have been in the business of satisfying our clients and their target users for over 30 years with many design awards and ‘world’s firsts’ to our name.