Roche Diagnostics has introduced the cobas pulse, a compact point-of-care analyser that delivers high-sensitivity troponin T, BNP and CRP results in under 20 minutes directly at the patient bedside, without requiring central laboratory infrastructure.
Roche Diagnostics has launched the cobas pulse, a portable point-of-care (POC) immunoassay platform designed to bring central laboratory-quality cardiac and inflammatory biomarker testing directly to the patient bedside, emergency department or outpatient clinic.
The system uses Roche's proven electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) technology miniaturised into a 2.8 kg portable analyser that processes up to 6 tests simultaneously from a single whole blood sample.
Available Assays (at launch)
- High-sensitivity Troponin T (hs-TnT) — 20 min
- NT-proBNP (heart failure) — 18 min
- CRP (inflammation) — 15 min
- D-Dimer (thrombosis) — 20 min
- HbA1c (diabetes) — 12 min
In a 1,400-patient RAPID-POC trial across 8 emergency departments, cobas pulse-guided rule-out of NSTEMI at 0 and 1 hour achieved 99.3% negative predictive value, safely discharging 31% more low-risk patients within 2 hours compared to standard care.
The cobas pulse is CE-marked and available in Europe from March 2026. FDA submission is anticipated in Q2 2026.