AAD, developer of rapid diagnostic and data systems, today announced that it has been awarded a federal contract for the development of an innovative system for the earlier detection of severe infection, including sepsis. The easy-to-use system is designed for use at point of care in urgent care clinics, doctors' offices and other prehospital settings, and could result in critical earlier intervention and improved patient outcomes.
AAD's QScout® RLD+ system is being developed as an easy-to-use, rapid-result hematology analyzer to capture a 7-part leukocyte differential, including quantification of band neutrophils and other immature granulocytes (IG). In serious infections, bands are released after mature neutrophils are depleted, and then IGs are released. Having automated band counts and the simultaneous availability of IG counts would be a first in medicine and will enable earlier identification of infection, including sepsis.
The QScout RLD+ system is designed to deliver laboratory-grade results in two minutes, in almost any setting, compared to the approximately two hours required of a traditional manual hospital testing procedure. Each hour delayed for the onset of antibiotic treatment of septic shock can increase mortality nearly 8%.
"According to the CDC, the vast majority of sepsis cases — 87 percent — begin outside of a hospital," said Joy Parr Drach, CEO of AAD. "Having a test system that in about two minutes can give results patient-side that are typically only available in a hospital setting would provide critical information and allow faster intervention for the patient. This new test system represents AAD doing things not before possible in places not before possible."
The development of AAD's new system is being funded in part with federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority's (BARDA) Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures under contract number 75A50121C00089; BARDA is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
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