Main characteristics of portable devices included in the literature review
| Technology | Name of the device (developer) | Market status*† | Approximate purchase cost (US$)† | Handheld‡ | References |
| Raman | TruScan RM (Thermo Scientific, previously Ahura) | M | >20 000 | Y | 26 27 87 §, 17 20 78 §, 15 16 18 19 21 28–30 40 88 |
| FirstDefender TruScan (Thermo Scientific) | N-Superseded by TruScan RM | – | Y | 22 | |
| NanoRam (B&W Tek) | M | >20 000 | Y | 43 44 | |
| MiniRam II (B&W Tek) | N-Superseded by i-Raman (B&W Tek) | NA (i-Raman: >20 000) | N | 26 | |
| MIRA (Metrohm) | M | >20 000 | Y | 23 | |
| Raman Rxn1 Microprobe (Kaiser Optical) | M | Unknown | N | 38 | |
| EZRaman-I (TSI) | M | Unknown | N | 24 | |
| EZRaman M Analyzer (Enwave Optronics) | Unknown | – | Y | 39 | |
| CBEx (Metrohm Raman) | M | 5000–20 000 | Y | 42 | |
| NIR-Fourier transform | MicroPhazir (Thermo Scientific) | M | >20 000 | Y | 28–31 |
| Phazir RX (Polychromix) | N-Superseded by MicroPhazir (Thermo Scientific) | NA | Y | 26 27 §, 89 §, 32 | |
| Phazir RX (Thermo Scientific) | N-Superseded by MicroPhazir (Thermo Scientific) | NA | Y | 22 | |
| Luminar 5030 (Brimrose) | M | Unknown | Y | 26 | |
| Target Blend Analyzer (Thermo Scientific) | M | Unknown | N | 26 | |
| MultiPurpose Analyzer (Bruker Optics) | M | Unknown | N | 41 | |
| NIR-dispersive | MicroNIR (JDSU)¶ | M—taken over by Viavi Solution | >20 000 | Y | 34 90 |
| D-NIRS (School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University)¶ | D | Unknown | N | 58 59 | |
| SCiO (Consumer Physics) | M | 10–500 | Y | 35 | |
| RxSpec 700Z (ASD) | N-Superseded by other technologies from ASD | Unknown | N | 26 | |
| MIR-Fourier transform | MLp (A2 Technologies) | N-Superseded by 4500 Series Portable FTIR (Agilent Technologies) | Unknown | N | 26 |
| Nicolet iS10 (Thermo Scientific) | M | Unknown | N | 26 | |
| Exoscan (A2 Technologies) | N—now commercialised by Agilent (Exoscan 4100) | >20 000 | Y | 26 | |
| Combined NIR/MIR-Fourier transform | TruDefender FT (Thermo Scientific) | M | Unknown | Y | 22 |
| FT/IR-4100 (JASCO, Tokyo, Japan) | Superseded by FT/IR-4600 (JASCO) | Unknown | N | 40 | |
| Cary 630 (Agilent) | M | >20 000 | N | 29 30 | |
| TLC, colourimetry, disintegration test | GPHF-Minilab (Global Pharma Health Fund EV) | M | 5000–20 000 | N | 27 81 87 91 §, 92 §, 15 46 47 49 §, 48 |
| Camera system with various LED sources | CD3/CD3+ (Counterfeit Detection Device version 3/3+) (US FDA)¶ | D | 500–5000 | Y | 15 64–66 |
| Lateral flow immunoassay dipsticks | Unnamed (China Agricultural University, Beijing and University of Pennsylvania)¶ | D | <10 | L | 51–53 |
| Paper-based devices | PAD (Paper Analytical Devices) (University of Notre Dame)¶ | D | <10 | L | 60 61 |
| aPAD (iodometric titration on paper card)¶ (University of Notre Dame) | D | <10 | L | 56 57 | |
| Paper-based microfluidic strip (unnamed)¶ (Oregon State University) | D | Unknown | L | 54 | |
| Ion mobility spectrometry | IONSCAN-LS (Smiths Detection, Danbury) | M | Unknown | N | 62 63 § |
| SABRE 4000 (Smiths Detection, Danbury) | M | Unknown | Y | 62 | |
| Capillary electrophoresis | Unnamed (Hanoi University of Science)¶ | D | Unknown | N | 55 |
| Reflectance | SOC-410 Directional Hemispherical Reflectometer | M | >20 000 | Y | 69 |
| Gloss meter—unnamed (University of Eastern Finland)¶ | D | Unknown | Y | 93 | |
| Microfluidics with luminescence detection | PharmaChk beta 1.1 (Boston University)¶ | D | Unknown | N | 50 |
| Mass spectrometry | Mini 10 mass spectrometer (Purdue University) | D | Unknown | Y | 37 § |
| QDa single quadrupole (Waters) | M | 50 000 | N | 36 | |
| Nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) | Unnamed (King’s College, London)¶ | D | Unknown | N | 45 |
| Reflectance colour measurement | X-Rite Eye-One (Regensdorf) | M | Unknown | Y | 67 |
| Low-cost laser absorption/fluorescence | CoDI (Counterfeit Drug Indicator) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) | D | 10–500 | Y | 65 |
| Refractometry | AR200 digital refractometer (Leica Microsystems) | M | 500–5000 | Y | 68 § |
| Pressure changes measurement (respirometer) | Speedy Breedy (Bactest) | M | 500–5000 | N | 71 |
Devices in italics have been superseded.
*D, under development; M, marketed; N, no longer marketed.
†Information from manufacturer website or direct contact with manufacturer.
‡Y, yes; N, no; L, lab-on-a-chip or disposable device.
§Indicates paper published before 2010.
¶Indicates devices for which all articles found in our review were written by author(s) not independent from the manufacturer/developer.
FDA, Food and Drug Administration; LED, light-emitting diode; MIR, mid-infrared; NA, not available; NIR, near-infrared; TLC, thin-layer chromatography.