Molecular Detection and Integrated Sciences Announce Distribution Agreement for Detect-Ready™ MRSA Assay in Australia

WAYNE, Pa. and SYDNEY, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Molecular Detection Inc. (MDI), a company developing Detect-Ready™ assays designed to increase the speed and accuracy of infectious disease diagnosis, and Integrated Sciences Pty. Ltd. today announced that they have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement for MDI's Detect-Ready MRSA assay in Australia.  The Detect-Ready MRSA assay offers healthcare providers a high-performance MRSA screening test with an unmatched combination of accuracy, speed, flexibility and cost-effectiveness.  Integrated Sciences recently launched the Detect-Ready MRSA assay into the Australian market.

"This latest agreement continues our strategy of partnering our Detect-Ready MRSA assay with leading distributors worldwide," said Todd Wallach, CEO of MDI.  "The Detect-Ready MRSA assay offers important advantages, and we believe that Integrated Sciences' focus on top-quality customer service and expert technical support, along with its national reach, will help our Detect-Ready assay achieve strong acceptance in the growing Australian market for MRSA screening."

Drug-resistant, potentially deadly MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections are a growing problem in healthcare facilities around the world.  The Detect-Ready MRSA kit is a qualitative real-time PCR (rt-PCR) in vitro diagnostic test for the direct detection of MRSA nasal colonization to aid in the prevention and control of MRSA infections in hospitals and other healthcare settings.  The proprietary technology in the Detect-Ready kits provides a unique differential diagnosis engine that produces highly accurate results, minimizing the false positives and false negatives experienced with other MRSA screening kits.  Samples for testing are simple to obtain using nasal swabs and the assay's ready-to-use pre-mixed reagents require only the addition of patient sample to run the test, which provides results in less than three hours.  

"The Detect-Ready MRSA assay is a welcome addition to our portfolio of advanced products for the clinical diagnostics and life sciences research markets," said Fabrice Magnino, Business Development Manager of Integrated Sciences.  "We believe that our reputation for outstanding technical support and customer service and our relationships with relevant decision-makers across the country will help us achieve strong acceptance of the Detect-Ready assay, which provides important advantages to healthcare institutions conducting MRSA screening programs."

Unlike other testing products that require special handling, Detect-Ready kits are off-the-shelf room temperature-stabilized and require no refrigeration.  Detect-Ready kits are compatible with multiple rt-PCR platforms currently found in clinical laboratories, including the Roche LightCycler®, Qiagen Rotor-Gene® and Cepheid SmartCycler®.  The flexibility to leverage existing infrastructure and equipment to run Detect-Ready assays eliminates the need for additional hospital capital investment.

The Detect-Ready MRSA assay kit has received the CE mark certification for sales in the European Union.  The Detect-Ready MRSA assay is currently also available in Germany, the UK, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria.

About MRSA

Drug-resistant, potentially deadly MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections are a growing problem in healthcare facilities around the world.  Patients in hospitals are at increased risk for MRSA infection, which can be spread by medical personnel, medical instruments, or from exposure to bacteria on furniture or other surfaces.  The routine invasive medical procedures performed in hospitals also create openings for MRSA to enter the bloodstream.  The incidence of MRSA infections has been rising, and some experts estimate that over 60% of hospital-acquired S. aureus infections are now antibiotic-resistant.  MRSA infections lead to increased disability and death among hospital patients, and also generate high costs for healthcare providers and for the healthcare system as a whole.

For more information about MDI's Detect-Ready MRSA assay in Australia, visit: www.integratedsci.com.au/MRSA

About Molecular Detection

Molecular Detection Inc. (MDI), a US-based company with offices in Wayne, PA, Tunbridge Wells, UK and Jerusalem, Israel, is developing and commercializing a portfolio of "sample-to-answer" Detect-Ready™ molecular diagnostic tests for the detection of infectious diseases.  The company's first product is a ready-to-use, rapid detection DNA probe test for hospital-based MRSA screening.  These staph infections represent a growing problem to the healthcare system.  Successful MRSA control efforts rely on screening potential carriers to prevent the spread of the disease.  The Detect-Ready MRSA test provides increased accuracy, faster time to results and more efficient utilization of hospital resources compared to other MRSA diagnostic products.  It is currently available in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Austria and Australia, with additional launches expected in the coming months.  MDI's real-time PCR tests are based on novel patent-pending technologies for differential diagnosis and room-temperature stabilization.  For more information, visit www.detect-ready.com.  

About Integrated Sciences

Established in 1983, Integrated Sciences supplies the Australian Diagnostics and Life Science markets from its offices in Sydney and Melbourne, with direct representation in Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.  Integrated Sciences takes pride in offering quality products for life sciences research and clinical diagnostics with the highest levels of technical support, service and performance--the company ethos of "Our Strategy is Support" means exactly that.  Integrated Sciences' scientifically qualified representatives in the field are complemented by a dedicated in-house customer support team.  Integrated Sciences Quality Assurance System conforms to the requirements of both the Australian and International Standard AS9002/ISO9002. For more information, visit www.integratedsci.com.au.

SOURCE Molecular Detection Inc.