Press Releases

For Immediate Release
Date: May 14, 2009
Contact: Carlene Simmons, Marketing Communications Manager
Phone: 800.871.8909 ext. 109

• Company receives clearance to add voriconazole to its YeastOne® susceptibility plate for in vitro diagnostics; plate now includes four FDA-cleared antifungal agents
• New Research-Use-Only Sensititre® Xtra Gram Negative MIC Plate incorporates 21 antimicrobics, including colistin and polymixin B

Cleveland, Ohio — May 14, 2009–TREK Diagnostic Systems, a Magellan Biosciences company and premier provider of diagnostic systems and susceptibility products for microbiology labs, will introduce two new susceptibility plates next week at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) general meeting. TREK’s YeastOne susceptibility plate for in vitro diagnostics and research-use-only Sensititre Xtra Gram Negative MIC plate both build on the company’s leading platform of Sensititre susceptibility products, which are used widely by physicians and researchers as they work to address the serious and growing problem of drug-resistant infections, and by pharmaceutical companies in their new drug development.

“Susceptibility testing is a critical tool in combating drug resistance,” explained James Whelan, president of Magellan’s Clinical Diagnostics business. “It is now well known that the widespread and inappropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the creation of ‘superbugs’ that have become immune to many existing drugs. There has also been a documented increase in recent years of drug-resistant fungal infections, particularly in severely immuno-compromised and/or critically ill patients. The latter is the target of our new YeastOne dried microbroth dilution plate (Part No. YO-2V), which increases reportable compounds and treatment options for clinicians.”

Mr. Whelan continued, “Increasingly, clinicians and researchers are relying on combinations of drugs. At TREK, we provide microbiology labs with both the latest FDA-cleared drugs and the widest range of formulations in a platform that improves test methods and reduces costs. The goal of our IVD susceptibility products is to help physicians safely and effectively fight infection without contributing to drug resistance by ensuring that they prescribe the right drug treatment or drug combination to stop microbial growth. YeastOne is the first in vitro diagnostic-labeled susceptibility product that is FDA-cleared for testing Candida species isolates against four commonly prescribed FDA-cleared antifungal agents: voriconazole, fluconazole, 5-flucytosine, and itraconazole. The plate features standard 24-hour incubation, easy-to-read colorimetric endpoints, and on-scale QC ranges, making antifungal susceptibility testing a viable in-house procedure for any size laboratory.”

Turning to the company’s new Sensititre Xtra Gram Negative MIC Plate (Part No. GNXF), Mr. Whelan said, “Our research-use-only plates help scientists better understand drug resistance. We designed this new Gram negative plate to include the antimicrobics colistin and polymixin B at the request of drug-resistance researchers because of resurgence in the use of these 50-year-old antibiotics to treat multi-drug-resistant infections. The plate incorporates 21 antimicrobic compounds, including doripenem, colistin, polymixin B, doxycycline, minocycline, ertapenem, and imipenem. In the U.S. and Canada, the plate is available for research-use-only, not for use in diagnostic procedures; minocycline, colistin and polymixin B have not been FDA-cleared for IVD use with FDA-approved interpretive criteria. Plates can be read manually and with TREK’s Vizion® system, or read using the automated ARIS 2X System.”

ARIS is part of the company’s line of Sensititre Automated Susceptibility and Identification Testing products, designed so labs can test – on a single cost-effective, LIS-compatible system – more FDA-cleared antimicrobial drugs than on any other automated platform against the widest range of non-fastidious and fastidious bacteria and yeasts. Sensititre takes the guesswork out of reading susceptibility results and eliminates the need for microbiology labs to use multiple off-line test procedures to obtain accurate susceptibility data. Since Sensititre is the susceptibility platform that pharmaceutical companies use in their drug-development process, TREK has early access to the latest antimicrobial therapies. Sensititre is also the system-of-choice for global surveillance programs, including NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System).

The company will also feature at ASM its FDA-cleared Vizion System, which integrates with a lab’s information system to eliminate transcription errors. It also adds easy-to-read digital imaging capability, enabling users to share or store images for future reference, training, and decision-making processes. TREK’s award-winning VersaTREK® Automated Microbial Detection System will also be on view. VersaTREK is the only system that performs four tests on one automated platform: culture for blood, sterile body fluids, and mycobacteria, as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility testing.

The 109th annual ASM General Meeting will be held May 17-21, 2009, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. TREK will exhibit in Booth 1301. TREK will also present a number of poster presentations at the ASM meeting, including the following:

About TREK Diagnostic Systems (www.trekds.com)
A Magellan Biosciences diagnostics company, TREK is a global manufacturer and distributor of automated systems and consumable products for microbiology-based diagnostic testing designed to improve patient outcomes. Signature product lines include VersaTREK®, Sensititre®, Vizion®, alamarBlue®, para-JEM®, YeastOne®, onSite®, and TREK Lab Services. TREK is committed to delivering the highest quality products and services to clinical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary diagnostic laboratories worldwide.

For more information, contact Carlene Simmons at 1.800.871.8909 ext. 109 or via e-mail at csimmons@trekds.com.