Albio™ is a rapid and cost-effective blood alcohol test which could help paramedics and emergency responders save lives
Albio™ is a new tool for paramedics and emergency responders (ERs) to obtain fast and accurate information about the patient’s blood alcohol level in order to make life-saving decisions on treatment and medication. Albio™ is designed to work in field conditions.
Alcohol is the most used drug in the world. More than 45% of the paramedics’ and ERs’ patients are under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol has a huge effect on treatment methods and medications. Yet, so far, the only reliable way to get blood-alcohol level information on an unconscious patient has been via a clinical lab test. Unfortunately, they take time, are expensive, require special instruments and skilled staff, and are not available on ambulances or in a portable kit.
Albio™ gives a reliable result in less than 20 seconds, is 10 to 40 times less expensive per test, and doesn’t require special skills or expensive instruments. Enabling faster treatment and better diagnosis with Albio™ is beneficial both to medical professionals and patients. Several medicines, typically pain-killers, react with alcohol. Thus, it is very important to know what the blood-alcohol level is for the correct dosage.
Realising savings in the field and lab
Albio™ has a great economic impact. Tests being 10 to 40 times cheaper than current methods can bring up to €125 savings for each test. Savings also come from transportation (fewer unnecessary ambulance rides), as well as from staff and workload in laboratories. If this device is used in ER and by paramedics, annual savings would be in the millions. We have calculated, from dispatch data in Finland, that a single ambulance has 3 patients per shift where this device would be necessary.
The sample for Albio™ is drawn from the fingertip in the same way that it is in glucose monitoring tests. Albio™ test-strips are also used in the same way as glucose meters. The meter has enough memory for more than 940 test results. The data exchange is done by standard USB-cable connection. The Albio™ meter doesn’t need any expensive maintenance type calibration, it is connected by entering the four-digit code from the strip vial into the meter.
Breathalysers measure alcohol from the patient’s breath, which often is not the same as their blood-level. The accuracy of a breathalyser measurement is affected by recent drinking and smoking and even eating, through residues in the mouth’s mucous membrane. Patients who are unconscious, who have had a bad trauma, or who are hysterical are not able to give a breathalyser sample.
Albio™ is developed by PAL Finland together with partners including Finland State Research Centre, the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital and multiple companies both from Finland and from abroad.
Ilkka Vartiainen
CEO & Chairman of the Board
Tel: +358 (0) 40 561 1801
Ilkka.vartiainen@palfinland.com
Please note: this is a commercial profile
