Inflammatix Inc. received U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its Triverity acute infection and sepsis test system, which produces three readouts that could help emergency physicians quickly determine the proper course of treatment.
South Korean researchers from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) developed a new fluorescence-based lateral-flow immunoassay (LFI) enhanced with gold nanorod (GNR)-based probes to detect viral infections like the influenza A virus.
After Cormedix Inc. navigated manufacturing issues that slowed the process, the U.S. FDA approved the antibacterial and antifungal solution Defencath to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections adults with kidney failure.
Day Zero Diagnostics Inc. and Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc (ONT) joined forces to battle the leading cause of death in hospitals — sepsis. Combining Day Zero’s whole genome sequencing technology for pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility analysis with Oxford’s nanopore-based molecular sensing technology, the companies aim to develop a diagnostic system that provides potentially life-saving identification and guidance on antimicrobial selection in mere hours.
Abbott Laboratories received U.S. FDA approval for its molecular human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test, expanding the company’s cancer screening tools. The new member of the Alinity M family of diagnostic assays can be used for screening, as recommended by current guidelines, as well as diagnosis and provide detailed information on the potentially cancer-causing genotypes of the virus.
Access Vascular Inc. (AVI) closed a $22 million series C funding round that it plans to use principally to increase production capacity for its Mimix hydrophilic biomaterial vascular access devices. The company’s catheters are designed to evade identification as foreign bodies, reduce bacterial adhesion and eliminate catheter-related thrombus development.
The fungus Candida auris has become an urgent clinical problem at a shocking speed. It was not even mentioned in the U.S. CDC’s 2013 reports on antimicrobial threats, but was one of five pathogens on the agency’s 2019 top-tier Urgent Threat List.
SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. and Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. have entered into a joint development agreement that could revolutionize vaccines by developing a vaccine-delivery device combination product using Vaxxas’ high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) coupled with SK Bioscience’s typhoid vaccine, Skytyphoid.
A new bacteriophage-based rapid test has the potential to identify the specific pathogen causing a urinary tract infection (UTI) at the point of care, enabling targeted use of antibiotics.
The test uses naturally occurring phages identified as predators of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella and Enterococci that are genetically modified to make any bacterium they invade bioluminescent.
In a proof-of-concept study, researchers at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, were able to reliably detect the pathogenic bacteria in a urine sample in less than four hours. That compares to the 18 – 30 hours it takes to culture samples in a central lab and to identify a specific microbe using conventional diagnostics.
T2 Biosystems Inc. received a third FDA breakthrough device designation with its direct-from-blood molecular diagnostic test for Candida auris. The test joins its T2resistance panel and T2Lyme panel in gaining the breakthrough recognition and the increased access to the FDA that comes with it as the company seeks final approval or clearance. The C. auris test enables identification of the challenging pathogen in three to five hours instead of the several days often required to grow a culture traditionally.