At-Home Test for Celiac Disease Now Sold in Canada
Bear in mind that a positive blood test is only one part of a celiac disease diagnosis. The company’s statement says, “While this easy blood test gives a high degree of certainty that a person is either developing celiac disease or already has celiac disease, one still needs to see a doctor for a confirmation.”
"Until now, tests to assess gluten intolerance have been hard to access," said Janet Monk, co-founder of 2G Pharma Inc. She adds that testing can take a long time to arrange, and "… many doctors haven't really been supportive of testing patients that complain about abdominal problems. The Biocard screening test shortens the waiting around period--the results are quick and accurate and if positive, gives you the assurance to seek professional treatment faster."
The Biocard Celiac Test Kit is manufactured by the Finnish company ANI Biotech. In Canada, it costs $50 and can be purchased from 2G Pharma Inc. online or at London Drugs, Overwaitea, Save on Pharmacy, Rexall Pharma Plus, Jean Coutu, Mayers and other major Canadian retail chains.
If you live outside Canada, you can order it directly from ANI Biotech in Finland. Their website accepts payments in Euros or U.S. dollars. (The charge is 50 Euros or the equivalent in US dollars, plus shipping.) Without a doctor's prescription, however, your insurance company will probably not reimburse for the cost of the test.
Comments
would the test results be affected if you were obstaining from eating wheat and gluten? Just getting over bad rash, don’t want to bring it back, just to get a positive test result. Going to test results from bx next week.
It’s been over 10 years since I was a registered medical technologist, but I have strong cautions for at-home testers. It may seem easy, but every step of the instructions are critical. Skip any or translate them differently, and you botch the test. At $50 a pop, that gets expensive.
Watching nurses do bedside testing in the hospital is enough to forever scare you away from thinking at-home testing is accurate. The average nurse, let alone the general public, doesn’t truly understand that you have to follow EVERY DIRECTION, use control samples, and never deviate from the procedure.
If you want accuracy, leave lab testing to lab professionals, please! My husband supervised the ancillary testing program of our hospital lab, which oversees the tests that nurses are allowed to do bedside (capillary blood glucose and urine dipstick mostly). It was truly frightening how little these medical professionals understood about testing procedures, controls, accuracy, etc.
Lori, the test might be affected if you were abstaining from gluten. And WB’s point is important to bear in mind. On the website for the product, a copy of the instructions is available for downloading. If the instructions look too complicated to you, leave the testing for your doctor.