Immunexpress Announces New Collaboration with MARS Consortium to Improve Care of Sepsis Patients
Immunexpress Announces New Collaboration with MARS Consortium to Improve Care of Sepsis Patients
The MARS Consortium is one of the largest collaborations of academic and industry partners dedicated solely to improving sepsis outcomes
SEATTLE, United States / EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands (April 10, 2013) –Today, the Immunexpress Group announced its collaboration with the Molecular Diagnosis and Risk Stratification of Sepsis (MARS) Consortium – a multicenter project aimed at developing and validating new technologies for early diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis.
Established by the Dutch Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM), the MARS Consortium aims to improve clinical outcomes and reduce health care costs associated with sepsis – the leading non-coronary cause of death in Intensive Care Units (ICU) worldwide and increasing in incidence; each day an estimated 1,400 patients die from sepsis. Immunexpress joins the MARS public-private partnership consisting of industry and academic leaders across the globe. The total project budget for MARS is 14 M€ — of which 50 percent is provided by the Dutch government.
“Immunexpress is honored to join this collaboration with the MARS Consortium,” said Dr. Roslyn Brandon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Immunexpress. “Immunexpress and the MARS partners share a purpose – to reduce the number of patients who die from sepsis through new and innovative methods of detection and patient management. We applaud the CTMM and the MARS partners for their efforts to date and look forward to contributing our expertise in immune system monitoring and the commercial molecular diagnostic development process.”
The MARS project is currently focused on enrolling patients in the world’s largest clinical study of sepsis to date; more than 7,000 patients admitted to ICUs at the medical centers of the University of Amsterdam and University of Utrecht (AMC and UMCU, respectively) will be enrolled – and approximately one-third of these patients are expected to have or develop sepsis.
“The MARS consortium is excited to start working with Immunexpress,” said Professor Tom van der Poll, Principal Investigator of MARS. “MARS and Immunexpress have the same goal and that is to improve the care of sepsis patients by developing rapid bedside tests that allow a better and more rapid diagnosis and risk stratification. With the accession of Immunexpress we expect to accomplish our goals faster.”
About Sepsis
Worldwide, there are 18 million cases of diagnosed sepsis per year and the incidence is rising at 8 to 10 percent annually; in the developed world, an estimated 1,400 patients die from sepsis each day (~ 511,000 each year). Patients at risk of sepsis include infants, mothers after childbirth, the elderly, those with weakened immune systems or those who have experienced significant trauma/injury, invasive surgery, or burns. However, healthy people can also develop and become ill from sepsis.
It is widely known that early diagnosis and early, targeted treatment improve survival; however, today’s diagnostics are pathogen-focused, insensitive (with a 30-50% failure rate), and slow (taking more than 24 hrs for test results). With currently available testing, it is also difficult for clinicians to distinguish sepsis from Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) – an inflammatory state affecting the whole body that presents very much like sepsis, but is not caused by infection.
New technologies to allow for earlier detection and personalized management of patients with, or at risk of, sepsis could significantly reduce the financial burden on healthcare systems worldwide through reduced patient mortality; reduced stays in ICU and hospital; fewer missed cases in the emergency setting; more targeted use of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories; reduced antimicrobial resistance; and reduced at-risk admissions.
About the MARS Consortium
The MARS program is organized into four work packages along a clinical, discovery, and technology platform: collection of patient data and blood samples from a large patient population; development of rapid, fully automated DNA-based bedside tests that identify microorganisms and also provide information about their resistance to antibiotics; discovery of novel biomarkers and the development of rapid and easy to perform tests to provide information about the risk profile of individual patients; and ICT management (integration of all collected information into a central data bank). Additional information is available on the CTMM website.
About Immunexpress Group
Immunexpress is a molecular diagnostic company committed to improving outcomes for patients with, or at risk of, sepsis. Immunexpress’ core competency is the clinical validation of genomic and proteomic biomarkers, and the translation of these novel biomarkers into clinical diagnostic and monitoring assays for readily available platforms, including point-of-care (POC). Immunexpress is a privately-held group of companies with locations in Brisbane, Australia and Seattle, USA. For more information about Immunexpress, please visit: immunexpress.com.
About CTMM
The CTMM (Center for Translational Molecular Medicine) is a Netherlands-based public-private partnership. It is dedicated to the development of technologies in molecular medicine that enable early diagnosis and personalized treatment for main areas of disease causing mortality and diminished quality of life in the western world. Focus lies on oncology, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and infectious/auto-immune disease. CTMM operates by inviting, assessing, and funding multidisciplinary projects that involve active participation by Netherlands-based academia and industry. All CTMM projects are judged by an independent International Advisory Board and approved by a Supervisory Board based on their significant potential to translate research knowledge into clinical practice. The CTMM is funded by the Dutch government (50%), academia (25%) and industry (25%). Additional funding is provided by supporting foundations on behalf of patients.
Key figures CTMM: 119 partners, M€ 302.7 allocated budget until the end of 2015, 22 projects/consortia, www.ctmm.nl.