Vienna, Austria, and Holzgerlingen, Germany, August 08, 2019, 08:00 am CET -
Curetis N.V. (the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, "Curetis"), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ares Genetics GmbH has opened a specialized service laboratory offering next-generation molecular antimicrobial resistance (AMR) testing services with an initial focus on infection
control, AMR epidemiology and surveillance, clinical research and pharmaceutical antiinfectives R&D. All services are based on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and the company’s proprietary, AI-powered antimicrobial resistance database ARESdb. The newly opened laboratory is located at the Vienna Biocenter Campus in Vienna, Austria, and will serve researchers, hospitals, public health institutions, and pharmaceutical companies world-wide.
As a first offering, the laboratory will provide whole genome sequencing of bacterial isolates for pathogen identification, typing, and drug resistance detection under the brand name ARESupa – Universal Pathogenome Assay. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) data generated by ARESupa is analyzed, interpreted, and reported through a cloud-based data interpretation reporting system that builds on ARESdb. ARESdb compiles high-resolution information on the genetics of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. At present, ARESdb
covers the genomes of about 40,000 bacterial strains and susceptibility data of more than 100 different antibiotics. Via the ARESupa test report, customers can interactively explore detailed information on the identity of pathogens as well as their genetic mechanisms of resistance, the prevalence of such mechanisms and the accuracy with which they predict resistance to
specific antibiotics using Ares Genetics’ cloud-based data analytics platform.
With ARESupa, Ares Genetics aims at supporting the cost-effective analysis and management of outbreaks of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens in hospitals and care facilities as well as facilitating antimicrobial drug development and AMR research.
“With the opening of our laboratory in Vienna and the first commercial orders for ARESupa,Ares Genetics delivers on its transformation from an AMR data intelligence company to an end-to-end service provider in AI-powered molecular drug resistance testing,” said Dr. Andreas Posch, Managing Director and CEO of Ares Genetics. “We are particularly grateful to our partners QIAGEN and MGI as well as to the colleagues at the Vienna BioCenter, the Austrian
Research Promotion Agency and the Vienna Business Agency who have supported us in setting up the laboratory to further scale our business.”
“We believe that our offering of non-diagnostic drug resistance testing services combining NGS with AI comes at the right point in time, as key stakeholders in healthcare and public health institutions increasingly advocate for the use of NGS technology in epidemiology and outbreak management,” added Dr. Achim Plum, Chief Business Officer of Curetis and Managing Director of Ares Genetics. “Taking the concept further, we are also working on first
NGS-based human diagnostic applications in severe infectious disease indications that are inadequately addressed by current diagnostic practice.”