At the 4th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS 2011), Bruker announces the amendment of its exclusive distribution agreement for clinical microbiology for Bruker's MALDI Biotyper with Francisco Soria Melguizo S.A. to cover now also Portugal, as another territory in addition to Spain. Francisco Soria Melguizo is one of the market leaders for clinical microbiology in Spain, providing products for microbial identification and antibiotics susceptibility testing. Bruker is the global leader in MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry based identification of microorganisms.
Since the beginning of the collaboration in May 2009, Francisco Soria Melguizo has placed approximately 20 MALDI Biotyper systems in microbiology laboratories of key opinion leaders in Spain, and recently the first system in Portugal. The MALDI Biotyper system has essentially become the new de facto standard for microbial identification in Spain, just as in many in other European countries.
Rafael Rumin, General Manager at Francisco Soria Melguizo, commented: "The Spanish clinical microbiologists found that the MALDI Biotyper system could be easily integrated into their existing workflows and that it has significantly improved the turnaround time for microbial identification. Additionally, they like the open architecture of the MALDI Biotyper, which allows easy integration with already existing technologies in the laboratory. The MALDI Biotyper is for sure one of the biggest innovations in clinical microbiology, and we are very excited to be part of its success in Spain and in Portugal. The MALDI Biotyper truly enables next- generation microbial identification for the 21st century."
Dr. Wolfgang Pusch, Bruker Daltonics Vice President for the Clinical Research and IVD Business, added: "We are very pleased with the rapid adoption of the MALDI Biotyper in the Spanish microbiology market. Francisco Soria Melguizo has done an outstanding job in Spain and therefore we have expanded our exclusive MALDI Biotyper distribution agreement to cover Portugal as well, in addition to Spain."
Bruker's proprietary MALDI Biotyper solution enables molecular identification, taxonomical classification or dereplication of microorganisms like bacteria, yeasts and fungi. Classification and identification of microorganisms is achieved reliably and quickly using proteomic fingerprinting by high-throughput. Applications include clinical routine microbial identification, environmental and pharmaceutical analysis, taxonomical research, food and consumer product processing and quality control, as well as marine microbiology. Bruker's robust MALDI Biotyper method requires minimal sample preparation efforts and offers low consumables cost per sample. The MALDI Biotyper is available in a research-use-only version, as well as in an IVD-CE version according to EU directive EC/98/79 in certain European countries.