A company called Cue is working on a portable device that could replace the trips to a doctor’s office or lab by doing some of those same tests at home. Their revolutionary product comes in the form of a small cubic kit that can analyze anything from a swab of saliva, nasal fluid to blood, to discern what’s going on in your body. You don’t have to be sick to use it though, Cue says that its device should also be able to check vitamin and testosterone levels, and help women figure out if it’s a good time to try for a baby.

Cue’s product comes in the form of a small cubic kit that can analyze anything from a swab of saliva, nasal fluid to blood, to discern what’s going on in your body.User puts a fluid into a cartridge, plugs it in, and the Cue base unit delivers the test results over Bluetooth to an app on the phone. It’s that easy.

The brainchild of Ayub Khattak — who has a background in mathematics and biochemistry — and product designer and engineer Clint Sever, the device will initially be used for testing of flu symptoms, fertility, testosterone, inflammation and vitamin D levels. At the moment, some of these require a doctor’s visit or lab tests, thus making a case for Cue’s business model; by reducing the number of those (costly) visits, the insurance industry and overall healthcare system could save a ton of money.

Cue will initially be used for testing of flu symptoms, fertility, testosterone, inflammation and vitamin D levels.What’s more, Cue’s tests are said to be “similar in performance” to their lab counterparts, and in some cases are faster than what’s being used in doctor’s offices. The flu test, for instance, is three times faster than a conventional one, and the Vitamin D test takes 10 minutes to spit out results.

Cue is currently working to ship its first $199 device to a group of beta testers early next year. While first results are promising, it’s unclear exactly how accurate the device actually is. Next year, when the first real feedback arrives, the company may decided to share some figures.

With some modifications and perhaps with other cartridges, Cue could be able to “handle” other tests through at it.Going forward, Cue may look to expand the number of tests. With some modifications and perhaps with other cartridges, the device could be able to “handle” other tests through at it. Speaking of which [cartridges], they will eventually be the major money-maker for the company. Cue says that most of these will sell for $20 per five-pack, with the flu test going for $30 for a pack of three. The eventual goal is to have both the unit and cartridges subsidized by insurance companies and government health-care programs.

Meanwhile, we’ve had few other self-testing devices getting attention from the media, including QuantuMDx which has developed a portable device that can detect malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, or other STDs in less than 15 minutes using similarly specialized cartridges. Backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation, this unit is targeting developing markets that have no access to the modern medicine tools. In contrast, Cue is going for the patients in the West and will thus have to go through many additional procedures before going mainstream…

[Via: TheVerge]