NEW YORK – Infectious disease testing firm Pattern Bioscience said Thursday that it has received a contract worth up to $40.9 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The contract's base award is $22.5 million, which Pattern said will support the late-stage development, verification, validation, and US Food and Drug Administration clearance of Pattern’s single-cell microbiology system and its pneumonia and bacteremia identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) panels.
Additional phases of funding could address high-throughput urine screening and ID/AST testing for urinary tract infections, the company said.
Austin, Texas-based Pattern uses a combination of microfluidics and machine learning to analyze single bacterial cells directly from clinical samples, allowing it to both identify pathogens and conduct phenotypical antibiotic susceptibility testing without culturing.
According to the company, its Pneumonia ID/AST Panel can provide same-day phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility profiles for more than 98 percent of the organisms typically detected in hospitalized pneumonia patients while its Bacteremia ID/AST Panel can identify pathogens and provide phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) directly from positive blood culture samples.
"Pattern’s technology provides actionable insights within hours, allowing clinicians to select the most effective treatments much earlier in the infection course," Nick Arab, Pattern's cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. "This collaboration with BARDA will accelerate our ability to bring this game-changing technology to the critical care setting, where timely intervention can mean the difference between life and death."