Next-generation separation: a French perspective on HbA1c testing and electrophoresis

More than 5000 samples of glycosylated haemoglobin have been tested using Sebia's Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing on MEDIBIO's technical platform in Melun, France. The results obtained demonstrate that the new separation method recently announced by Sebia for the measurement of HbA1c brings a significant performance improvement. This is due to the simple and direct analysis of HbA1c, the absence of interference and distortion of results, excellent reproducibility, perfect linearity, and traceability from the primary tube to the end result. Here, Frank Mentz talks about the French Biologie-Prospective-Réalité (BPR) initiative and explains the value of the latest Sebia Capillarys technology.

Ca you begin by explaining the origins of the BPR initiative in France?
The BPR initiative resulted from the desire of leading biologists working in the private sector in one region of France to become part of a national network of laboratories, with the aim of pooling their substantial resources to face up to the economic challenges arising from structural changes in the profession while continuing to perform high-quality medical biology at a local level.

As the initial challenge was to preserve total economic independence while ensuring the interdependence of the network’s participants, the BPR network was designed to function with the funds available to the biologists belonging to it, to the exclusion of all other forms of funding.
 When it was established on 10 May 2008, the network consisted of six elements. The first step was to create a platform of specialist analyses, all of which had the necessary administrative authorisations for practical application. In three years
of activity, the network has spawned various capabilities, including:
    - a logistics company that handles the transport of biological samples between the  
    network’s participating organizations and within them in compliance with ADR norms
    - a procurement arm that operates through a joint working party, affording better
    communication with the reagent suppliers, which have become true partners through
    contracts that are common to all network participants
    - an operating model for the routine platform and the emergency platform, which is
    utilised in all the companies belonging to the network in accordance with a method of
    common accreditation and a common information technology model (whose ultimate
    structure will be a single system for the whole network).