CES 2019: TestCard is a home urine test that arrives on a post-card
TestCard is an affordable package that turns your smartphone into a private clinical-grade urine analysis kit.
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The UK domiciled startup displayed its system at CES 2019 this week. The outfit hopes to revolutionize the direct to consumer healthcare diagnostics market with a reliable and non-invasive alternative to costly and time-consuming doctor visits.
You can buy tests for pregnancy, urinary tract infection and glucose levels at just $4 each and they’ll arrive embedded on a postcard (in sets of three). In the future tests to screen for prostate cancer and sexually transmitted infections will also be sold.
Each strip is equipped with a QR code as well as a few tiny, multi-colored, square pads. The user simply applies urine to a strip or dips it in a cup they’ve already peed into.
Results are obtained by holding a mobile device above the TestCard. This enables the smartphone app to scan the QR code and colored squares with the in-app camera. It takes just 20 seconds to obtain a reading.
Everything is interpreted in simple to understand language and the app will also warn if the test is out of date or invalid in any way. The whole system sounds incredibly easy, discreet and useful as an early detection tool.
A few years in the making TestCard is nearly ready to launch. You’ll be able to purchase the kit in the UK from April and the US from July.
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