BY AMANDA BALTAZAR
As life is conducted at an increasingly fast pace, those of us living it have diminishing amounts of patience.
And that’s part of the reason behind the success of home-test kits, which are appearing more regularly on drug store shelves, thus eliminating the need for a physician’s visit and allowing consumers to get results—fast.
Testing at home isn’t new of course: Thermometers have been in homes for as long as any of us can remember; home pregnancy tests are now commonplace; and glucose testing is getting that way. But testing for paternity, fertility and drug use is new, and it seems to be catching on.
In fact, according to data from Information Resources Inc., it’s the less-traditional tests that are doing the best. For the year ended April 20, one of the categories with the biggest growth was urine testing (up 23. 61 percent in unit sales)—to show the presence of protein and glucose, for example. Ovulation-testing kits also were selling well, up 4. 92 percent over the previous year, while pregnancy-test kits were down 1. 4 percent.
Identigene’s DNA Paternity Test was launched last fall, and some 4,400 Meijer and Rite Aid stores now carry the product.
The success of Identigene’s kits has been staggering. Between 4,000 and 5,000 of the kits are now sold every month, noted Doug Fogg, chief operating officer, and surprisingly, women purchase 60 percent of them. Early this month, the company reported that the product also has been picked up in 5,500 CVS stores.
Instrumental to this early success has been the accuracy of the product. “We will not declare paternity if it’s not more than 99. 9 percent accurate,” Fogg said.
The kits are simple to use. The child and the alleged father (the mother is also suggested) each simply take a DNAsample using a cheek swab, which are then sent to Identigene’s labs for analysis. Results are available three to five days after the labs receive the samples. Results can be obtained by mail, by phone or online, but almost everyone uses the Internet, Fogg said, “because most people are really eager to get an answer.”
Identigene’s test costs $29.99, plus $119 in lab fees, which must be sent in with the swabs.
The DNA Paternity Test kits are stocked in the family-planning section, along with pregnancy tests and condoms.
Of course, before you can get to the point of testing for paternity, there has to be some fertility involved, whi ch has emerged as another focus for home test kits.
Genosis’ Fertell fertility tests for men and women hit the market in
May 2006.
People buy these tests out of curiosity, said Robert Thompson, president of Genosis. “People think about holding off [having a baby], but they want to be sure their systems are OK,” he explained. They also want to test themselves quickly, or simply test with more privacy.
Many couples use the tests before they see a healthcare professional because it’s recommended to try to conceive for six to 12 months before seeing a physician, and they find it hard to wait.
The kits are sold together for $99.99, although they can be purchased individually online. Genosis sells slightly more of the men’s kits, said Thompson, because of the embarrassment some men feel providing samples in a clinic.
What’s been surprising is that more than a third of the tests are purchased by men. So far, CVS and
Longs Drug Stores are the only options for buying the tests, besides the Internet, and that does not look likely to change. “I don’t see this in c-stores,” Thompson said, “because they don’t have big family-planning section.“
Another home-test kit category that’s been growing of late is drug tests.
The big purchasers of First Check Diagnostics’ home-test kits are concerned parents, said spokeswoman Julie Godon. The company has a number of kits that test for drugs Identigene’s DNA Paternity Test ranging from marijua-
na to heroin.
“We want parents to use these as a preventative tool,” said Godon, who pointed out that another benefit of the tests is that they give kids an “out” when offered drugs because they can say their parents will find out.
Another use for the kits is self-
Genosis’ Fertell fertility tests
testing, Godon added. Some adults, on finding they will have a drug test at work, like to test themselves to make sure they’re drug-free.
First Check’s most popular kit ( 25. 6 percent of sales) tests for just marijuana, followed by the test for marijuana and cocaine ( 8. 4 percent), the 12-drug test that checks for heroin and prescription drugs ( 8. 1 percent) and the four-drug test that checks for marijuana, cocaine, opiates (including heroin) and methamphetamines ( 7. 9 percent).
The drug tests work using a simple urine sample. If they produce a positive result (which shows users exactly which drugs have been found), consumers are encouraged to send the sample to First Check’s labs for confirmation. The tests are, however, 99. 9 percent accurate. “It’s about peace of mind,” Godon said.
The results can be seen within five minutes, and that speed, she noted, is one of the reasons consumers like the tests. Another is that a home kit allows them to keep these matters private, without a doctor, school or workplace knowing about possible drug use.
First Check’s home-test kits are sold in drug stores including CVS, Rite Aid and Longs, as well as in grocery stores and such mass marketers as Kroger, Target and Wal-Mart. So far, drug stores are the strongest channel for sales, but Godon said the grocery channel is gaining ground. The product is merchandised at the pharmacy, near the glucose and cardio tests.
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