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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

International Business Times reports [ibtimes.com] of a startup (called the Disease Diagnostic Group) raised more than $200,000 from investors interested in their new device, capable of diagnosing malaria using magnets and laser light. The devices may be small enough to keep in one hand, cost as low as $300 and have a claimed accuracy of 93% [bostonglobe.com] even for infected but asymptomatic persons

The device uses the discovery, published in 2008 [nih.gov] by Dave M. Newman and his Exeter University colleagues, on a way to exploit the magneto-optical behaviour of "haemozoin" (also called malaria pigment [wikipedia.org]) a crystalline substance excreted by malaria parasites. When the parasites turn hemoglobin into malaria pigment, it becomes magnetic, unlike any other substances in the human body. Placing an infected blood sample in a magnetic field forces all the crystals to align with the magnetic field. Their collective effect on a polarized light (such as a laser) reveals malaria infection.

Well, my question: with 219 million documented [wikipedia.org] cases of malaria in 2010, why does SN-ers think it needed more than 5 years for the discovery to reach the implementation stage?

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