Quantamatrix installs 12 dRAST platforms – direct Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing – in ten European countries

Paris, France, August 26, 2020 – Quantamatrix, a clinical microbiology diagnostics company, announces today that it has installed dRAST platforms in 12 European hospital labs and private lab chains. The CE-ivd marked product was launched in Europe last June. It is designed to accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis patients.

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. For clinical operationalization, organ dysfunction can be represented by an increase in the Sequential (Sepsis-related) Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of two points or more, which is associated with an in-hospital mortality rate greater than 10%.[1]

In 2017, of the 48.9 million patients diagnosed with sepsis, 11 million died. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, infected people can also develop secondary bacterial infections. It is estimated that almost 15% of people hospitalized with Covid-19 go on to develop bacterial pneumonias, some of which are resistant to existing antibiotics.

With the onset of sepsis, the mortality rate rapidly increases. Every hour counts; a fast and accurate antibiotic prescription through rapid diagnosis is therefore critical. The dRAST platform offers Rapid Phenotypic MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) results interpreted in as little as four hours, enabling antibiotic therapy to be adapted for optimal patient and hospital use. This saves up to 48 hours compared to conventional Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing methods. This directly benefits the patient, including saving lives, helps clinicians provide better care and reduces the overall cost for the healthcare system.

“Since we started with dRAST in Europe in June 2019, we have seen a lot of interest from hospital and private laboratories who are looking for innovative solutions in rapid AST testing,” said Stephane Rougale, vice-president and chief marketing officer at Quantamatrix Europe. “Our European commercial partners have also shown great confidence in the product. They are all widely-recognized professionals in the field of clinical microbiology and play a significant role in the success of dRAST. They quickly understood that rapid testing would improve patient health while reducing healthcare costs in urgent care. We are expecting to reach 20 installed units by the end of the year.”

The equipped laboratories include the Hôpital Européen George Pompidou and Hôpital Henry Mondor in France, Slagelse Hospital in Denmark, the Labormedizinisches Zentrum Dr Risch in Switzerland, the MVZ Labor Ravensburg GbR in Germany, Cork University Hospital in Ireland, Coventry University Hospital in the UK, the Mestre Ospedale Dell’ Angelo in Italy, Liege University Hospital in Belgium and three renowned hospitals in Norway, Switzerland and Sweden, as yet undisclosed.

“dRAST provides a true MIC result which is a key element for targeted therapy, especially in the era of multidrug resistant bacteria,” said Dr. Claudio Scarparo from the Mestre Ospedale Dell’ Angelo in Italy, who integrated QuantaMatrix’s technology in his lab. “dRAST offers benefits for patients in a more targeted pharmacological therapy, improving patient’s clinical outcome while reducing hospitalization time and its associated costs.”

The dRAST evaluation phases are run in three steps:

• Technical – to validate that the instrument works and delivers the expected results
• Clinical – to make sure that the generated results have a significant impact on patients
• Economic – to ensure the economic adoption of the product by the hospital or private institution

All but one of the sites are now in phase 3 of the evaluation, which means finalization of the routine use of the system. Hôpital Henri Mondor is just starting its evaluation and is in phase 1.

“Using our dRAST product can bring same-shift results, saving up to two days on the selection of the optimal treatment for the bacterial or fungi infection,” said Gerald Ulrich, vice-president and chief executive officer of Quantamatrix Europe. “When there are delays in accurate diagnosis, misuse of antimicrobials can increase, making treatment more difficult and spreading antimicrobial resistance. Our product enables faster and more optimal prescriptions.”

Quantamatrix holds seven patent families for dRAST technology, with a proprietary portfolio fully owned by the company and no licencing.

About dRAST^TM

dRAST is a direct and Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (dRAST) system with microscopic time-lapse imaging, microfluidic agarose channel technology and proprietary software algorithms, which provides MIC-based phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing direct from positive blood cultures in as little as four hours; reducing time to result by up to two days compared with conventional methods. These rapid results enable earlier optimization of antimicrobial agents in critically-ill patients with bloodstream infections and sepsis. Its EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) panel supports 18 Gram-positive/17 Gram-negative antimicrobial agents and the CLSI (US Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute) panel 17 Gram-positive/19 Gram-negative.

About QuantaMatrix Inc.

QuantaMatrix Inc, a South Korea based clinical microbiology diagnostics company, was established in 2010 as a spin-off from the Biophotonics and Nano Engineering Lab (BiNEL) at Seoul National University. The company is dedicated to solving the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial misuse and promoting optimal antimicrobial prescribing. Its pipelines include a rapid drug susceptibility test solution for tuberculosis and IVD fully automated multiplex immunoassays platform for cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s disease.

Quantamatrix Europe, the company’s European headquarters, was incorporated at the end of 2018. It is based in Paris, France.

www.quantamatrix.com

[1] 2019 consensus group