NEW YORK – Danaher subsidiary Cepheid said Wednesday that it has partnered with the Fleming Initiative to help combat antimicrobial resistance.
The Fleming Initiative is a global collaboration established by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London and includes researchers, policymakers, clinicians, behavioral experts, and public and commercial partners to develop equitable solutions to antimicrobial resistance at a global scale.
The partnership will include collaborative scientific and clinical research focused on expanding the use of in vitro diagnostics to support antimicrobial stewardship programs that enable responsible antibiotic use and control the rise of resistant infections, Cepheid said in a statement.
The collaboration will initially focus on encouraging active screening for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) to aid in earlier detection of critical infections and colonization, implementing community-based acute respiratory infection testing and care pathways to provide decentralized diagnostics and treatment, and accelerating a precision medicine approach for sepsis to identify and treat patients with a particular sepsis response state.
"Accurate diagnostics are at the frontline of the battle to eliminate preventative antibiotic use," Cepheid President Vitor Rocha said in a statement. "Every one of us can help reduce unnecessary antibiotic use by requesting an accurate diagnostic test to identify the source of an infection before we begin a course of antibiotics."
Cepheid is the first diagnostics company to be included in the Fleming Initiative.