Newly-developed Tests Achieve 100% Concordance on Superbug Strains from the CDC
January 21 2020 - 7:58AM
LexaGene Holdings, Inc., (OTCQB: LXXGF; TSX-V: LXG) (the
“Company”), a biotechnology company that develops genetic analyzers
for rapid pathogen detection and other molecular markers, announced
today it has expanded its number of validated tests for antibiotic
resistance and has completed testing different superbug isolates
provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antibiotic Resistance
(AR) Isolate Bank.
Dr. Jack Regan, LexaGene’s CEO and Founder states, “Antibiotic
resistance is a big problem. People are dying every day due
to the lack of high-quality, rapid diagnostics at the point of care
that can both identify the cause of an infection and determine
whether it is resistant to common antibiotics. To address
this shortcoming, LexaGene has developed a fully automated,
molecular-based diagnostic that can provide these answers in an
hour – rather than the typical 3-day turnaround time for a sample
shipped to a reference laboratory. To evaluate our newly
developed assays, we tested them against the most dangerous
antibiotic-resistant bugs we could get our hands on and have been
thrilled with the data – as we successfully detected 100% of the
targeted genetic sequences.”
Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health
threats of our time. Currently, more than 2.8 million
antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and
more than 35,000 people die as a result.1 The CDC has
predicted that by 2050, 10 million people will die from
antibiotic-resistant strains every year – surpassing the number of
deaths due to cancer in present times.2
LexaGene’s study was broken into two parts, pathogen
identification and antibiotic resistance detection.
For pathogen detection, LexaGene’s tests successfully detected
each of the 125 targeted strains of bacteria, specifically: 55
Klebsiella sp., 31 Escherichia coli, 22 Enterobacter sp., 14
Acinetobacter baumannii, 12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 5 Proteus
mirabilis.
For the second part of the study, 13 different antibiotic
resistance tests were used to successfully detect 90 carbapenemase
resistant strains and 123 multi-drug resistant strains
(carbapenemase + extended-spectrum beta-lactamases).
Dr. Regan concludes, “We now have tests that will detect
bacterial pathogens that carry antimicrobial resistance and are
responsible for the most commonly misdiagnosed infections.
Our goal is to provide healthcare professionals with an easy to
use, on-site technology that quickly informs on identified
pathogens and detected antimicrobial resistance so they can improve
prescription practices. This would be a significant
improvement over the current standard, which is to wait three days
for lab-generated test results that indicate whether the correct
therapies were prescribed.”
1 https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/biggest-threats.html2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5127510/
About LexaGene Holdings Inc.LexaGene is a
biotechnology company that develops genetic analyzers for pathogen
detection and other molecular markers for on-site rapid testing in
veterinary diagnostics, food safety and for use in open-access
markets such as clinical research, agricultural testing and
biodefense. End-users simply need to collect a sample, load it onto
the instrument with a sample preparation cartridge, enter sample ID
and press ‘go’. The LX Analyzer delivers excellent sensitivity,
specificity, and breadth of detection and can return results in
about 1 hour. The unique open-access feature is designed for custom
testing so that end-users can load their own real-time PCR assays
onto the instrument to target any genetic target of interest.
Media Contacts Nicole Ridgedale Director of
Corporate Marketing, LexaGene800.215.1824 ext
206nridgedale@lexagene.com
Investor Relations Jay AdelaarVice President of
Capital Markets, LexaGene800.215.1824 ext
207jadelaar@lexagene.com
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involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause actual events to differ materially from current
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only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims
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to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
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