Press Releases

For Immediate Release
Date: June 16, 2009
Contact: Caroline Grossman
Phone: 781.771.5579

Fast, accurate, and consistent results help reduce healthcare costs and improve patient care

Chelmsford, Massachusetts — June 16, 2009 – Magellan Biosciences, an emerging leader in clinical diagnostics, will feature a variety of automated systems and diagnostic tests designed to help doctors make faster, more-informed treatment decisions in Booth 3244 at the 2009 AACC/ASCLS Clinical Lab Expo. Products on view will include TREK’s blood-culture systems and susceptibility products; Dynex’s automated ELISA assay systems; ESA’s FDA-cleared Vitamin D Test; and the LeadCare® II three-minute blood-lead test. The Clinical Lab Expo runs from July 21 to 23 at The McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.

“The recent healthcare-reform debate has included a focus on the importance of quality and ‘outcomes-based’ treatment – and diagnostics will no doubt be at the center of discussions going forward,” said Magellan President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert J. Rosenthal, Ph.D. “Better diagnostics lead to more-informed treatment decisions and superior care. Clinicians, healthcare executives, and lab managers alike recognize that more-efficient and easier-to-use diagnostic tools like the ones we offer under the TREK, Dynex, ESA, and LeadCare names are central to maximizing productivity of overburdened lab staff, realizing cost savings, and improving health outcomes.”

TREK Diagnostic Systems will demonstrate automated systems that address the growing problem of antimicrobial-resistant organisms.

• TREK’s award-winning VersaTREK® automated microbial-detection system performs four tests on one automated platform: culture for blood, sterile body fluids, and mycobacteria detection, as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility testing. With a proven “tough-bug” advantage and reduced time to detection, Trek designed the VersaTREK system to improve patient care. Its unique two-bottle approach uses the same bottle set for pediatric, adult, and antibiotic-therapy patients, reducing inventory, simplifying decision-making, and saving costs associated with specialized media bottles.

• TREK’s signature Sensititre® product line for susceptibility and identification testing enables labs to 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. This saves microbiology labs from having to use multiple off-line test procedures to obtain accurate susceptibility data. In order to increase reportable compounds and treatment
  options for clinicians, TREK obtains FDA clearance where feasible and appropriate. TREK often gets early access to the latest therapeutics because pharmaceutical companies use the Sensititre system during drug development. TREK’s platform is also the system-of-choice for global surveillance initiatives, including NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System). Sensititre plates feature 18- to 24-hour incubation, true MIC endpoints, and on-scale QC ranges, making susceptibility
  testing a viable procedure for virtually any size laboratory. The Vizion® system adds easy-to-read digital imaging capability to take the guesswork out of reading susceptibility results.

For more information on TREK products, visit www.trekds.com.

Dynex Technologies will feature demonstrations of the DS2® two-plate and DSX® four-plate ELISA processing systems. Designed for efficiency and reliability with the ‘expert’ inside, they perform the most-sophisticated analyses, but are easy to use for operators with varying levels of education and experience. The DSX and DS2 are open systems with full walk-away automation and
precise liquid-handling capabilities. They execute the entire complement of analytical steps required
for virtually any ELISA immunoassay: adding samples and reagents, washing, incubation, and
detection, delivering all you need to ensure the rigorous, repeatable analyses required in critical
applications – from immunology to infectious disease, hormone, allergy, blood-chemistry, and drugsof- abuse testing. To see a video of the DS2 at work, visit www.dynextechnologies.com.

ESA Life Sciences will feature its FDA-cleared test to assess vitamin D sufficiency, a practical, costeffective alternative to send-out tests that offers significant improvements over other methodologies. The ESA Biosciences Vitamin D Test, comprising reagent kit and test system, detects each form of vitamin D individually and automatically reports total 25(OH)D, with none of the antibody or proteinbinding specificity issues associated with existing assays. The ESA test provides accurate and specific results as demonstrated through comparison with other methods (HPLC-UV and LC-MS), offering simplified extraction and lower sample-volume requirements. The ESA assay is reimbursable (CPT code 82306). To view a video demonstration of the ESA Vitamin D test, visit www.esainc.com/products/markets/clinical_diagnostics/vit_d.

LeadCare – Magellan will also feature its showcase LeadCare II blood-lead-testing system, which has been used successfully around the world as a point-of-care test and in clinical-laboratory settings. Because traditional prescription-based and send-out practices have missed those children most atrisk for lead poisoning, policy-makers at the federal, state, and local level are taking action to encourage the use of LeadCare II to ensure that children receive mandated testing. In 2009, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) added completion of blood-lead testing as one of the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures it uses for rating the quality of health plans. Consequently, many health plans and providers are turning to the point-of care test to help boost screening rates and improve their HEDIS report cards.

• As a CLIA-waived test, the LeadCare II system removes all the complications formerly associated with blood-lead testing – waiting days for lab results, spending precious staff time and resources trying to contact patients for critical follow-up care, or tracking down results for record-keeping, reporting, or compliance purposes. Far simpler to administer than traditional blood-lead tests, the LeadCare II blood-lead testing system can use a capillary or venous sample, can be combined with other routine waived blood tests, such as hemoglobin and ZPPH, a test for iron deficiency anemia, and saves considerable administrative time spent on paperwork, tracking, and follow-up. Tests are reimbursable (CPT code 83655) and cost-effective – allowing health systems to focus resources on those truly at risk.

About Magellan Biosciences (www.magellanbio.com)
An emerging leader in clinical-diagnostic markets for hospital-based labs and near-patient testing, Magellan serves the worldwide clinical-diagnostic market with rapid point-of-care analyzers and consumables; blood culture, susceptibility systems, and reagents for microbiology labs; automated ELISA assay processing systems; esoteric assays; and services. Scientists use our life-science tools for cutting-edge research to develop a new understanding of health and illness, for drug development, and for quality assurance/quality control applications. We design all our products to deliver better, more-reliable results. And better results help drive improved health outcomes: earlier, more-accurate diagnoses, breakthroughs that can lead to novel treatments, new cures – innovations to enhance life. Magellan brands include LeadCare, ESA, Dynex, and TREK.

For more information, contact Caroline Grossman at 781.771.5579 or via e-mail at cgrossman@magellanbio.com.