Bruker introduces MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD for rapid identification of over 400 microorganisms from positive blood cultures

Bruker Corporation announces US FDA clearance and the US launch of the MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD for rapid microbial identification of more than 425 microorganisms from positive blood cultures on the MALDI Biotyper CA System.

Dr. Wolfgang Pusch, Executive Vice President Microbiology & Diagnostics at Bruker Daltonics, stated: “This represents an order of magnitude increase in the number of microorganisms that can be identified rapidly from positive blood cultures in suspected bacterial or fungal sepsis cases compared to targeted PCR detection. This could make the MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD a nearly universal, rapid sepsis identification solution for clinical microbiology. We expect this affordable fast assay to benefit large numbers of patients, as it comes at a fraction of the cost of expensive syndromic panels with limited species coverage. Faster identification can assist infectious disease physicians and pharmacists in switching sepsis patients to appropriate antibiotics or antifungals for local or hospital infection patterns, which reduces costs, length of ICU stays and could save lives.”

The MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD enables the rapid identification of many microorganisms from positive blood culture bottles. Harvested microorganisms are processed and then identified using the FDA-cleared MALDI Biotyper CA System, with a reference library that covers 425 different gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial species and groups, as well as yeasts, including Candida auris, an emerging pathogen for hospital-acquired candidiasis.

The MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD workflow typically takes less than 30 minutes from a positive blood culture bottle alert to identification. It can save up to 24 hours in time-to-result (TTR) for many identifications, versus additional agar plate culturing, and a further 8–12 hours for biochemical identification after agar plate culturing. The MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD workflow does not test for resistance or antibiotic susceptibility. It rapidly identifies the microbial species once the blood culture system has detected microbial growth.

Mr. Ike Northern, Director of Infectious Disease Testing and Immunology at the CompuNet Clinical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, explained: “I think a lot of laboratories are realizing that they need to use MALDI-TOF MS technology for microbial identification. Many are now making this investment when they recognize the long-term patient and cost benefits. The MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD will be the next step for a lot of clinical microbiology laboratories. Many are currently using multiplex PCR tests, but once you have the MALDI Biotyper instrument, it is more cost-effective to use the MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD for fast identification than PCR syndromic panels.” (*)

Rapid testing from positive blood cultures is gaining increasing interest in the clinical microbiology community due to high mortality and morbidity rates in sepsis and septic shock. Sepsis impacts an estimated 30 million patients worldwide every year, many of whom die or suffer permanent health issues. Survival rates can be increased by rapid initiation of an appropriate antibiotic therapy (http://www.worldsepsisday.org). Developed for use with Bruker's U.S. FDA-cleared MALDI Biotyper CA System, the MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD is intended to simplify and speed up identification of microorganisms directly from positive blood cultures of sepsis patients.

Dr. Elisabeth C. Shearon, the Medical Director at Alverno Laboratories in Hammond, Indiana, commented: “Rapid (MBT) Sepsityper identification has become instrumental in terms of our patient care. Especially in critically ill patients, the improved turn-around-time allows disease specific treatment which conserves health-care resources and, most importantly, improves patient outcomes.” (*)

Currently, guidelines call for physicians to treat septic patients quickly with broad-spectrum antibiotics with the goal of switching to a more targeted therapy once the infecting organisms have been identified and/or any antibiotic resistances have been determined. The MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD can improve this process by providing rapid microbial identifications to help clinical microbiologists, treating physicians, and patients alike.

Dr. Steven D. Burdette, the Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio added: “The MBT Sepsityper kit data has allowed us to adjust antibiotic therapy according to our local antibiogram. This, at times, has allowed us to narrow or stop certain antibiotic treatments while in other cases, it has allowed us to escalate antibiotic coverage pending sensitivity data. It has become a crucial tool for our Antimicrobial Stewardship team.” (*)

* All quoted early adopters have self-validated the research-use-only (RUO) version of the MBT Sepsityper kit prior to FDA-clearance of the MBT Sepsityper Kit US IVD.

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