Seegene and Molzym today announced a partnership on the automated Magicplex™ Sepsis, a new multi-pathogen screening test capable of quick and accurate identification of over 90 leading sepsis-causing pathogens. Magicplex Sepsis provides a novel and fast-acting diagnostic technique for hospitals to simultaneously verify a complex range of targets that indicate sepsis, the leading cause of death in non-coronary intensive care units worldwide. Seegene’s automated Magicplex Sepsis will be introduced at the 2011 Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID, 7 -10 May 2011) in Milan, Italy.
Sepsis is a deadly disease that leaves no clear track back to initial indications, which could include gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria or fungi. The results are devastating: the annual incidence rate of sepsis has increased 91.3 percent over the last 10 years, and every hour 25 people in the United States die from severe sepsis. One of every three patients who develop severe sepsis will die within a month. Severe sepsis, the leading cause of death in the non-coronary intensive care unit, takes more lives than breast, colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers combined.
The Magicplex Sepsis Test simultaneously screens for over 90 sepsis-causing pathogens: 73 Gram (+), 12 Gram (-), 6 fungi, and 3 antibiotic resistant genes can also be discriminated. The Magicplex Sepsis Test requires 1ml of patient’s whole blood and provides test results within three hours (after extraction). The microbial DNA enrichment is based on Molzym”s MolYsis technology enabling up to 40,000-fold DNA enrichment over conventional technologies. Automated DNA isolation is performed with Seegene”s Seeprep12 instrument based on Nordiag”s “Arrow” system.
“The Magicplex Sepsis Test will be the new gold standard for performing accurate, rapid and cost-effective sepsis diagnosis,” said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, chief executive officer of Seegene. “In treating sepsis, time and accuracy are demanded. Every hour of delay in giving patients the correct antibiotics results in an 8% increase in the mortality rate.” “The automation reduces the total process costs significantly and makes Magicplex Sepsis Test the first true routine sepsis test worldwide” says Prof. Dr. Michael Lorenz, Chief Scientific Officer at Molzym.
Magicplex Sepsis Test is based on Seegene’s proprietary READ™ technology, which combines the advantages of multiplex Real-Time PCR system. The result is a molecular diagnostic test system that provides higher specificity and sensitivity over currently available PCR systems.