Scaling Diagnostics with Hurdle’s Diagnostics Management Solution

The journey from developing a breakthrough diagnostic test to successfully distributing it across multiple laboratories is more complex than most innovators anticipate. While creating an accurate, reliable test or bioinformatics algorithm is challenging enough, scaling its availability presents an entirely new set of challenges.

Complex Challenges in Diagnostic Scaling

While creating an accurate, reliable test or bioinformatics algorithm is challenging enough, scaling its availability presents an entirely new set of challenges:

1. Strategic laboratory partnerships:

Finding and qualifying the right laboratory partner is crucial yet time-intensive. Each lab’s equipment capabilities, quality standards, and geographic reach vary, making the evaluation process lengthy and resource-heavy.

2. Technical integration bottlenecks:

Even with qualified partners, standardising protocols across different lab settings and managing data format variations can create significant delays. Our Diagnostics management system includes a ‘Process’ module that helps standardise the protocols, reducing time to market. 

3. Quality control across multiple sites:

Many companies underestimate the complexity of maintaining quality control across multiple sites and rely on lab processes to catch any reporting mistakes. Despite high-quality lab partners striving to deliver accurate data, our platform’s 15-point automated checks still catch approximately 1,000 reporting inconsistencies per 100,000 results. These can range from minor data format issues to modified reference ranges due to machine recalibration.

4. Logistical challenges in shipping:

Shipping diagnostic kits across regions quickly becomes a complex logistical challenge. Each new geography requires onboarding local 3PLs, negotiating contracts, and establishing shipping protocols. Our system’s ‘Network’ module helps manage these logistics efficiently, ensuring timely delivery of diagnostic kits. 

5. Operational overhead and patient compliance:

Operational complexity grows as scale increases. Verifying kits receipt, sending collection reminders, and monitoring return shipping status add layers of complexity. Our platform automates these tasks, significantly reducing the time spent on manual follow-ups and minimising the risks of lost samples and delayed results.Patient compliance adds another layer of complexity: verifying kit receipt, sending collection reminders, and monitoring return shipping status. Without automated tracking and notification systems, teams spend countless hours on manual follow-ups while risks of lost samples and delayed results multiply with each market expansion.

Streamlined Diagnostics management 

Our Diagnostic management solution offers a suite of modular services designed to tackle these challenges effectively:

  • Comprehensive accessibility and integration: Seamlessly integrates with major Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems to enhance diagnostic data flow across healthcare providers
  • Wide geographic reach: Our platform extends services across multiple regions, adapting to meet regional compliance and operational requirements.
  • Robust distribution channels: Efficient distribution ensures the timely availability of diagnostic tools, supported by our ‘Launch’ module that facilitates new diagnostics test market introductions.

Decision-making in infrastructure

The decision between building internal infrastructure vs using existing platforms often boils down to three critical metrics: speed to market, cost efficiency, and risk management. Companies that opt for specialised platforms like ours typically experience

  • 10x faster deployments
  • 5x lower operational costs
  • Significantly reduced quality risks compared to in-house solutions

Modern infrastructure solutions

 By leveraging standardised platforms for test distribution, diagnostic companies can revolutionise their operations, achieving:

  • Reduce time to market from months to weeks
  • Consistent quality across all testing sites
  • Automate result validation and quality control
  • Scale operations without increased overhead

As diagnostic innovation continues to accelerate, the ability to efficiently scale test distribution becomes increasingly crucial. Success in today’s market requires not just excellent tests, but also robust infrastructure to deliver them reliably at scale.

Case study: How Intus Bio Scaled Their Advanced Microbiome Analysis

Intus Bio developed Titan-1™, a breakthrough platform that provides strain-level microbiome analysis – significantly more detailed than traditional 16S and shotgun metagenomics approaches. While their technology could differentiate between beneficial and harmful bacterial strains with unprecedented accuracy, scaling test distribution presented significant operational challenges.

The company faced multiple complexities: shipping collection kits to patients, managing sample returns, coordinating with laboratories, and ensuring consistent quality across their network. Each new market would have multiplied these challenges.

By leveraging Hurdle’s Diagnostics management solution, Intus Bio streamlined their entire workflow. Hurdle handles the end-to-end logistics – from kit distribution to lab processing – while Intus Bio focuses on their core strength: applying their AI-powered analysis to generate actionable microbiome insights.

This partnership enabled Intus Bio to:

  • Launch in new markets without managing additional logistics partners
  • Maintain sample integrity through return transit
  • Automate patient communications for improved kit return rates
  • Expand their laboratory network while maintaining consistent quality
  • Focus resources on advancing their proprietary analysis technology

The result? Intus Bio now delivers their advanced microbiome analysis to thousands of patients and clinic partners, without the operational overhead typically associated with such expansion.

Accelerate your diagnostic innovations

Ready to transform your diagnostic operation? Contact us to learn how our Diagnostics management platform can streamline your processes and bring your innovations to market more efficiently.