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Accelr8 Extends Agreement for Evaluation of BACcel System

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Accelr8 Technology has extended a deal for the evaluation of its BACcel system one month to July 31, it said after the close of the market on Thursday.

The company did not name its collaborator who is evaluating the system, but in June 2010 it entered into an agreement with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics to assess the BACcel system for identifying the type and quantity of bacterial pathogens in clinical specimens.

Accelr8 also did not name the partner at the time. In February, however, the company identified it as Novartis in a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It added that it had extended the agreement to expire on June 30.

Denver-based Accelr8 added in the document that as of Jan. 31, it had received an aggregate amount of roughly $640,000 from Novartis, and it anticipated receiving "not less than $140,000 more pursuant to these agreements."

In a statement today, David Howson, president of Accelr8, said “[I]n the last six months, we’ve worked successfully with outside engineering specialists to install fluid robotics and high-speed microscopy. We’ve tested hundreds of patient specimens and keep increasing our capacity. The higher capacity of the system has generated substantial research data including the human specimen analyses.

"This data volume necessitates the extension,” he said.

The BACcel system is a rapid bacterial diagnostics system that, according to the firm, can identify bacteria within two hours and their major resistance mechanisms within six hours. Accelr8 has been working on tests for antibiotic resistance detection.

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