Siemens Announces Addition to Immunosuppressant Drug Monitoring Portfolio

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics has announced that its Mycophenolic Acid assay (MPAT) is now available for use on the company’s portfolio of Dimension^® Integrated Chemistry Systems in the U.S. The development makes Siemens the first diagnostics solution provider in the U.S. to offer the consolidation of four fully automated immunosuppressant drug (ISD) assays on a single integrated chemistry system.

The ISD assays are for mycophenolic acid, cyclosporine, tacrolimus and sirolimus; the four most commonly prescribed immunosuppressants used by physicians to prevent organ rejection. Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is increasingly being used in multi-drug regimens for the treatment of transplant patients. Having the ability to monitor any combination of MPA, cyclosporine, tacrolimus and sirolimus therapy on one integrated instrument can help to ensure patients receive the optimal balance of therapy.

Manual pre-treatment steps are not required for any ISD tests performed on the Dimension systems. This enables clinical laboratories to be more efficient and reduce the potential for errors resulting from excessive manual handling. The ability to run the ISD tests alongside other routine chemistry tests, on one integrated instrument, also saves laboratories valuable time.

The effective monitoring of immunosuppressants on the Dimension systems enables more comprehensive care for transplant patients. This can not only save the transplanted organ, but potentially the life of the transplant patient.