Irish Technology transforming treatment of blood poisoning

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Irish Technology transforming treatment of blood poisoning

Release date: 21 Jun 2006

http://www.biotechinfo.ie/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?

Q=BF_NEWSART_208419

Dr Morich, CEO of international biopharmaceutical company

Innogenetics, was in Dublin today (Wednesday 21st June 2006) to

celebrate the company's successful development partnership with

Enterprise Ireland and NUI Galway and to explore future

interactions.

A technology, developed by researchers at NUI Galway's National

Diagnostics Centre supported by Enterprise Ireland and Innogenetics,

is now the basis for tests that diagnose bacterial and fungal

infections in blood. The SeptiFast® test can detect the 25 most

important sepsis-causing bacterial and fungal pathogens from a

single blood sample. The test significantly reduces the time

required to reach a diagnosis and provides accurate information to

help doctors choose the right therapy.

Sepsis [blood poisoning] is a severe illness caused by overwhelming

infection of the bloodstream by toxin-producing bacteria and fungi.

Over 18 million cases of severe sepsis occur each year. Severe

sepsis accounts for up to 135,000 European and 215,000 American

deaths annually. Sepsis is increasing by more than 10% per year and

now constitutes one of the greatest challenges in intensive care

medicine. The economic cost of sepsis is more than $17bn annually in

the U.S. Early diagnosis and treatment could improve survival rates

and lower costs.

The 'spacer probe' technology, developed in Galway and Ghent, on

which SeptiFast® is based, was patented in 1997 and a development

partnership with the €300 million Belgian-based company,

Innogenetics, followed. In 2001, Innogenetics and Roche Diagnostics

entered into an agreement to develop and market a new range of rapid

microbiology tests with the Innogenetics/NUI Galway spacer probe

technology for Roche's analytical platforms. By combining the

Innogenetics/NUI Galway proprietary spacer technology and broad know-

how with Roche's PCR-based analytical platforms, the SeptiFast® test

provides speed, sensitivity, and specificity, permitting the

identification of microorganisms within a timeframe of only a few

hours.

Dr Morich, CEO of Innogenetics said 'By combining the skills

and cutting edge technologies of our two entities we were able to

contribute to a major breakthrough leading to a next generation of

diagnostic test for a rapid diagnosis of sepsis. Our two

organizations can be proud of this achievement. Innogenetics is very

much looking forward to pursue similar opportunities.'

Dr Roben, Director of Enterprise Ireland's Biotechnology

Commercialisation Group stated 'Successes like this demonstrate the

importance of Ireland's investment in quality research. Global

biopharmaceutical companies, like Innogenetics, are now looking at

Ireland as a source of world-class, technology. The Irish

Government's recent decision to spend €3.8 billion on scientific

research over the next seven years will further enhance our status

as a knowledge-driven economy.'

Dr O'Mahony, Director Technology Transfer, NUI Galway

said 'We are delighted with the outcomes of the license agreement

and collaborative research programme between the university and

Innogenetics on the commercial development of the Spacer Probe

technology originally developed by Dr Tom Barry and his research

team at the National Diagnostic Centre, NUIG. This technology has a

significant role to play in the development of new nucleic acid

based diagnostic assays for the detection and diagnosis of micro-

organisms. This has recently been demonstrated by the introduction

of the SeptiFast® diagnostic test into the market place, based on

Spacer Probe Technology. A number of research teams at NUIG are

actively developing a range of other diagnostic technologies and we

also look forward in the very near future to the commercial

development and market introduction of these new technologies across

different fields of applications'

The SeptiFast® test was recently launched in Europe and is expected

to be launched in the USA, following FDA approval.

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Article Id: 208419

Release date: 21 Jun 2006