Roche presents new, fully automated lab solution at Europe’s largest diagnostics conference

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today at the IFCC Euromedlab in Milan, Italy that it will soon introduce the cobas 8100 automated workflow series, a new solution for use in diagnostic laboratories. cobas 8100 automates numerous routine diagnostic laboratory tasks, while maximising patient safety. Using intelligent robotics, the new system automatically prepares blood samples for immediate testing and post-analytical processing. cobas 8100 improves a laboratory’s testing efficiency and enables healthcare professionals to make fast and reliable treatment decisions. Market availability is expected in autumn this year.

Increasing cost pressures in healthcare are forcing laboratories to increase efficiency and reduce expenses. Lab automation through integrated robotics and IT solutions is therefore becoming critical as a way of simplifying operations, reducing manual handling, and at the same time maximising patient safety.

“As a leading supplier of laboratory instruments, tests, automated workflow and data management solutions, Roche is supporting effective medical decision-making and contributing to higher efficiency in the medical laboratory,” said Roland Diggelmann, Chief Operating Officer of Roche Diagnostics. “The new cobas solution will improve the way many laboratories operate. Total lab automation not only lowers costs and increases productivity, it also minimises the risk of sample mix-ups or contamination through manual handling by lab personnel. With short and predictable turn-around times, it helps physicians to make timely treatment decisions for patients.”

cobas 8100 features an innovative and intelligent routing and prioritisation system, providing more than twice the processing speed of Roche’s previous system. Healthcare professionals benefit from on-time, high quality diagnostic results for routine and emergency tests, even at laboratory workload peaks.

cobas 8100 can easily be added onto existing cobas analysers, and its flexible, modular design allows labs to grow over time as demand increases. The recent trend to lab consolidation in the diagnostics industry has increased the need for automated, high throughput solutions that manage workflow across sites. cobas 8100 combined with cobas IT solutions gives labs full and transparent control over the entire process in a complex environment.

Combined with Roche’s sample archiving solutions, the cobas 8100 provides unprecedented flexibility, simplifying and speeding up routines for archiving and on-demand retrieval of blood samples. This allows for full automation and traceability from blood sample entry to result reporting and archiving.