QuantuMDx and Ontera collaborate to advance sepsis diagnosis

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, UK/ CALIFORNIA, USA (10 Dec 2019). QuantuMDx Group Limited and Ontera, Inc have announced a collaboration to create a next-generation solution for blood stream infection and drug resistance detection. The technology will be based on QuantuMDx’s rapid cell/sample preparation technology, Capture-XT® and Ontera’s powerful nanopore biosensor, currently utilized in their SAM and DUO Nano platforms.The combined technologies should enable clinicians to quickly interrogate blood specimens of those presenting with sepsis signs and symptoms, allowing guided ‘right first time’ care management, at the bedside.Sepsis affects more than 30 million people worldwide every year leading to an estimated 6 million deaths.¹ If it’s not recognized early and managed promptly with targeted antibiotics, sepsis can lead to septic shock, multiple organ failure and death.QuantuMDx’s revolutionary Capture-XT® technology captures, concentrates and enriches targeted pathogens from a large sample volume, quickly enabling visual diagnosis and downstream utilization, such as drug-susceptibility analysis, PCR, NGS and now nanopore detection, with this collaboration.Ontera’s single pore platform provides fast amplification of multiple bacterial targets, differentiation between antibiotic resistant and susceptible strains. The company uses silicon nanopore for in-minutes quantitative measurement of nucleic acids, proteins and small molecules, avoiding time-consuming laboratory procedures that can delay lifesaving, fast and precise treatment.