Diatherix This Month Will Debut Tem-PCR-Based 21-Pathogen STD Panel

May 04, 2010

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LAS VEGAS — Alabama CLIA lab Diatherix this month plans to launch a real-time PCR-based multi-pathogen STD panel, and is working on a fungal panel that it hopes to debut in a couple of months.

The STD panel contains 12 pathogens: Atopobium vaginae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Gardnerella vaginalis, Haemophilus ducreyi, Mycoplasma hominis, Herpes Simplex viruses 1 and 2, Mycoplasma genitalium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, Trichomonas vaginalis, and Ureaplasma urealyticum.

The fungal panel, which is currently in development, will interrogate 23 fungi.

Randy Ward, the company's president and COO, would not disclose the price of the STD panel but said it will cost the same as Quest's C. trachomatis molecular diagnostic, which looks for just the one pathogen.

Ward spoke with me at his shop's booth during CLMA's annual conference, held here this week

Diatherix's assays are based on the company's Tem-PCR platform, and rely on a Luminex platform for detection, an ABI thermocycler, and a KingFisher instrument for extraction.

Asked if his lab is happy with these technologies, Ward said "yes," but added that Diatherix is "always keeping an eye on new and better" tools.

The lab currently offers six panels that cover infectious diseases, respiratory infections, HPV-typing, Staphylococcus differentiation, and gastrointestinal infections,

The company is based in Huntsville, Ala., and receives samples from providers throughout the US, Ward said.

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