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Company News: Curetis Initiates Clinical CE Performance Evaluation of Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application

Clinical study to test more than 400 patient samples

Follows successful completion of analytical CE Performance Evaluation in more than 400 cartridge runs

Expected results and product launch in spring 2015

Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced the start of the clinical CE performance evaluation of its next-generation Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application. The new P55 Cartridge will replace the current P50 Pneumonia Application, which was launched in 2012. P55 will offer an even broader panel of pathogens and antibiotic resistance markers, reflecting global changes in the importance of microorganisms and certain critical resistance mechanisms responsible for pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections. Final study data and the P55 product will be presented at the upcoming 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) April, 25 – 28 2015 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The clinical study will evaluate more than 400 already collected native samples from patients suffering from pneumonia. Primary endpoint of the study will be assay performance defined as clinical sensitivity and specificity as compared to microbiology culture, today’s diagnostics standard of care. Analytical sensitivity has already been established for all panel analytes in more than 400 P55 cartridge runs.

The P55 Cartridge comes with a panel of up to 21 pathogens and up to 19 antibiotic resistance markers. Additions are expected to include e.g. Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Klebsiella variicola as well as clinically relevant resistance genes coding for carbapenem (imp, ndm, vim and several oxa-markers) and oxacillin (mecC) resistance. These enhancements reflect input from clinical and epidemiological findings, key opinion leaders and customers over the past two years and will support Curetis’ global product launch activities.

The new cartridge will replace the P50 Application on the European market. Pricing will remain unchanged, with an international roll-out expected to start in the second quarter of 2015. Under the label LRT55, the P55 Cartridge will also be used as a Lower Respiratory Tract (LRT) Application in the U.S. FDA clearance trial, which is expected to be completed in 2016.