Could 20-Minute Hormone Testing Transform Patient Care? Nedal Safwat, SVP at Canatu

In this episode of Diagnosing Dx, David Filby is joined by Nedal Safwat, Senior Vice President of Medical Diagnostics at Canatu and President of Canatu Inc. With more than 20 years in diagnostics, Nedal has held leadership roles across Cepheid, QIAGEN, bioMérieux and Luminex. He now leads Canatu’s expansion into medical diagnostics, taking the company’s carbon nanotube technology into point-of-care testing. Nedal explains why Canatu has chosen hormone testing and sepsis as its first areas of focus, and why the company started with the unmet clinical need rather than trying to find an application for its technology. We also discuss the opportunity for faster hormone testing, the shift towards decentralised diagnostics, reimbursement and design-to-cost, and how Canatu is combining the speed of a startup with the infrastructure and backing of an established company. Key takeaways: 🔹 Why Canatu is bringing carbon nanotube technology into medical diagnostics 🔹 Why hormone testing and sepsis were selected as the company’s first focus areas 🔹 Why diagnostics companies should start with the unmet need and work backwards 🔹 How point-of-care hormone testing could improve convenience and reduce patient drop-off 🔹 Why reimbursement, cost and customer validation need to be considered from the beginning Chapters: 00:53 Introduction and Nedal Safwat’s background 07:18 Canatu and the move into medical diagnostics 13:02 Why hormone testing and sepsis? 17:26 Starting with the unmet need and product-market fit 21:29 Partnerships, personalised hormone testing and patient demand 27:52 Product development and the path to commercialisation 32:57 Reimbursement, design-to-cost and startup culture 40:30 Future milestones and the diagnostics market outlook Guest: Nedal Safwat Senior Vice President, Medical Diagnostics at Canatu President, Canatu Inc. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nedal-safwat/ Learn more about Canatu, Medical Diagnostics here: https://canatu.com/products/medical-diagnostics/ Host: David Filby Founder and CEO of Elevra Consulting LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfilby/ 🔔 Subscribe to Diagnosing Dx for weekly conversations with leaders shaping the future of diagnostics and omics.