Paul Ko Ferrigno on Revolutionizing Home Diagnostics: The Opal Device Explained

In our latest episode of Trail Blazers, we are joined by Paul Ko Ferrigno of éclateral Ltd.

Join us in discovering how Paul was inspired by a groundbreaking publicity campaign by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). This campaign highlighted a critical issue: blind women can't take a pregnancy test on their own. Motivated by this challenge, éclateral have developed an accessible/ lateral flow reader linked directly to a smartphone. But that's just the beginning.

We'll explore how the Opal Device, an accessible lateral flow reader, aims to bring diagnostic testing into every home. Imagine controlling your health from the comfort of your home, reducing the strain on GPs and the NHS. With over 7 billion lateral flow tests made annually for various conditions like pregnancy, diabetes, and infections, the potential impact is enormous.

Join us as we delve into the four key components of the Opal Device, the science behind it, and how it costs less than £20 to produce but offers the capabilities of £2000 worth of lab equipment. We’ll discuss its common use cases, including antimicrobial stewardship, which is considered the second-largest threat to humanity after climate change.

We'll also cover the journey of bringing this product to market, starting with low iron detection for breastfeeding mothers and disease monitoring for young children. Hear about the challenges and strategies for reaching 6 million parents through established community groups and pharmacies.

Women’s health is an underserved and underfunded sector, and is another crucial focus. We’ll talk about creating a test for menopause, an issue with 11 million searches a month in the UK alone, and the significance of clinical trials in this context.

We will discover the broader impact and scale of the Opal Device, which addresses major threats to humanity while potentially saving the NHS £350 million annually by reducing unnecessary GP visits and prescriptions. We’ll discuss the integration challenges with existing GP systems and the necessary education for patients and healthcare practitioners.

Lastly, we’ll look into the sustainability goals of making single-use tests compostable and the reader reusable up to 10,000 times. Learn about their short, medium, and long-term goals, including the launch of menopause tests and the potential for prostate cancer trend monitoring.

Tune in to hear about the future plans, the hope of reducing antibiotic use in care homes by 30%, and the overall vision for putting diagnostic power in the hands of people, revolutionising healthcare from molecule to market.

Don’t miss this episode of Trail Blazers, , where we uncover how the Opal Device is set to change the landscape of home diagnostics and healthcare as we know it!