NanoLogix, an innovator in the rapid detection, identification and antibiotic sensitivity determination of live bacteria announced today third-party results for detecting live Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) in a revolutionary time of 4 days with its BNP (BioNanoPore) technology. The advanced culture test results with the NanoLogix BNP technology are at least 500% faster than the 21-day standard for live TB culture detection. Additionally, other test methods for tuberculosis are expensive, labor intensive and cannot determine if a microbe found in a sample is living or dead. The NanoLogix technology provides a significant advantage over conventional methods for detecting TB in developing regions where medical resources are scarce and TB infections are rampant.
The 4-day TB results are a part of a lab research study conducted by a well-respected third party laboratory. The organization maintains anonymity until research data is published in a leading scientific journal.
"We are ecstatic over the third-party 4-day TB test results," said Bret Barnhizer, CEO of NanoLogix. "Typically, physicians must wait at least 21 days to determine if a patient should be put on antibiotics for TB. With an annual death toll of well over one million from this devastating disease, providing definitive, viable determination of TB in 4 days is a true game-changer."
The World Health Organization estimates that roughly one third of the world's population is infected with TB, either in an active or latent form. Highly contagious, active tuberculosis infections commonly attack the lungs and have a 50% mortality rate. In recent decades, the misdiagnosis and mismanagement of TB infections have led to a number of antibiotic-resistant strains, such as Mutli-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and Extensively Drug Resistant TB.
Because of its slow growing nature, speeding up the definitive diagnosis of live-cell TB detection has been a consistent challenge for the medical industry. While techniques such as X-ray examinations, smear tests and DNA sequencing have provided alternatives to 21 day culture results, their inability to differentiate between the simple presence of a bacteria and a true active infection have left them unable to provide a comprehensive tool for fighting TB.
"By making the 'gold standard' method of culturing a faster process, our technology has the potential of providing the medical community with an extremely rapid, accurate, affordable and definitive culture-based TB test," continued Barnhizer. "With NanoLogix, physicians will soon have the opportunity to detect live TB faster, administer antibiotics properly, and monitor the efficacy of antibiotics in a close to real-time mode. This will provide the opportunity to reduce the prevalence of TB infections around the world."