OpGen will collaborate with the New York State Department of Health and ILÚM Health Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck’s Healthcare Services and Solutions, to develop a state-of-the-art research programme to detect, track, and manage antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections at healthcare institutions statewide.
OpGen will work together with DOH’s Wadsworth Center and ILÚM to develop an infectious disease digital health and precision medicine platform that connects healthcare institutions to DOH and uses genomic microbiology for statewide surveillance and control of AMR.
The DOH, ILÚM and OpGen will work collaboratively to build a sustainable, flexible infectious diseases reporting, tracking and surveillance tool for antimicrobial resistance that can be applied across New York State.
The goal of this project is to improve patient outcomes and save healthcare dollars by integrating real-time epidemiologic surveillance with rapid delivery of resistance results to care-givers via web-based and mobile platforms. ILÚM is leading the project with the implementation of its technology platform.
OpGen is providing its Acuitas AMR Gene Panel for rapid detection of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens along with its Acuitas Lighthouse Software for high resolution pathogen tracking.
“We are proud to be a part of this groundbreaking initiative throughout the State of New York, and to collaborate with Wadsworth and ILÚM to help develop the blueprint for how governments and healthcare facilities can detect, track, and manage antimicrobial-resistant infections,” said Evan Jones, CEO, OpGen.
“As part of the collaboration, OpGen will receive a $1.5 million contract for the 12 month demonstration portion of the project, with the potential for full implementation during the next 5 years, should certain milestones be achieved by all parties involved. We look forward to working with the Wadsworth Laboratories and to serving the people of the State of New York.”
The OpGen Acuitas AMR Gene Panel u.5.47, a distributed, rapid diagnostics platform capable of detection and identification of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens in under 3 hours and for use with the Acuitas Lighthouse Software.
Together, these products can rapidly identify and locate AMR threats in healthcare institutions and networks. Both systems are commercially available for Research Use Only (RUO) and are anticipated to be submitted for FDA clearance after completion of ongoing and planned clinical trials.
New York State Health Commissioner, Dr Howard A. Zucker, said: "Under Governor Cuomo's leadership, New York State is setting the standard in addressing the threat of antimicrobial resistance. New York's Wadsworth Center is uniquely qualified to partner with OpGen and ILÚM Health Solutions as part of our response to this public health concern."
