Beckman Coulter Diagnostics and MeMed, a leader in the emerging field of advanced host-response technologies, have announced the expansion of their host immune response diagnostics partnership.
Beckman Coulter is now an authorised distributor of the MeMed BV assay, a rapid immunoassay test able to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections, and MeMed Key, a compact immunoassay analyser cleared to run the MeMed BV assay in the United States and Europe. This new distribution agreement complements the existing joint effort to develop a MeMed BV-based test for Beckman Coulter’s family of Access Immunoassay Analyzers.
Symptoms of bacterial and viral infections are often clinically indistinguishable, which creates challenges for physicians when deciding to start treating patients with antibiotics or not. Unfortunately, this ambiguity can result in the underuse and overuse of antibiotics. Recent research published in Biomedicines showed that up to 29% of the time, clinicians face uncertainty in differentiating bacterial versus viral infections, which can cause delays in clinical decision-making and inefficient diagnostic workflows. This research report indicated that the MeMed BV assay supported or altered physician decision-making in 87% of cases (p < 0.05). MeMed BV returns results in 15 minutes from serum or whole blood and has >99% negative predictive value (NPV)* to rule out bacterial infection.
“Beckman Coulter’s commitment to improving infection management is unwavering,” said Kevin O’Reilly, President, Beckman Coulter. “To that end, we are excited to extend our partnership with MeMed by expanding market access to the MeMed Key and BV assay. These MeMed innovations complement Beckman Coulter’s portfolio of host response diagnostics, including our CBC-based haematological biomarker MDW (monocyte distribution width) identifying the presence of severe infection and risk of sepsis, our clinical chemistry PCT (procalcitonin) assay aiding risk assessment for septic shock, and our full suite of microbiology solutions providing faster time to optimise antibiotic therapies.”
Dr Eran Eden, MeMed’s CEO and co-founder, added: “We’re excited to expand our partnership with Beckman Coulter, taking an additional step forward in our shared mission to advance pioneering host-response solutions. This expansion focuses on two main objectives: first, to educate and prime the market to accelerate the adoption of MeMed BV once it’s cleared for use on Beckman Coulter’s core-lab immunoassay analysers; second, to broaden patient access to MeMed BV through a strategic hub and spoke model. By combining the capabilities of Beckman Coulter’s analysers with the MeMed Key’s ability to deliver results directly from whole blood within minutes, we’re creating a synergistic ecosystem that aids clinicians in distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections with unprecedented ease and precision.”
MeMed BV is a diagnostic test developed to address management of patients with acute infection in different clinical settings, including emergency departments. The MeMed BV test uses a machine learning-derived algorithm to integrate measurements of three key host-immune proteins (TRAIL, IP-10, and CRP) into a score indicating the likelihood of bacterial or viral infections. MeMed BV on MeMed Key is US FDA cleared, CE-Marked and approved by the Israeli Ministry of Health.
