PRESS RELEASE: TECHLAB^® To Showcase Its C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® At 2017 American Society For Microbiology Microbe Meeting

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — TECHLAB^® Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of rapid, non-invasive diagnostic tests for gastrointestinal disease, today announced that it will be showcasing C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® at the American Society for Microbiology Microbe 2017 meeting in New Orleans, June 1-5. C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® is the only test that simultaneously detects and differentiates both glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) antigen and toxins A&B of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) in one single device. TECHLAB^® will have its team on hand to discuss their full line of enteric diagnostic tests including: SHIGA TOXIN QUIK CHEK™, GIARDIA/CRYTOSPORIDIUM QUIK CHEK™ and LACTOFERRIN EZ VUE^®. TECHLAB^® will be located at booth #2743 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

C. difficile infection (CDI) is the most commonly reported healthcare acquired condition (HAC) ¹, thus placing an economic burden of an estimated $3.2 billion annually on the healthcare system.² Almost a half a million people contract CDIs  in the United States every year and one in nine patients over the age of 65 will die within 30 days of receiving a CDI diagnosis.³ C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® allows healthcare professionals to treat the right patients and improve infection prevention measures by differentiating colonized carriers from patients with true disease – molecular tests are unable to make this critical distinction which can lead to overdiagnosis, overtreatment and increased costs.

“The C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® is integral in providing complete, accurate and rapid results for the proper diagnosis and treatment of CDI,” said David Lyerly, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer at TECHLAB^®. “Unfortunately, reliance on stand-alone molecular tests have led to increased costs for hospitals and impacted patient treatment and prevention measures. C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® is an important healthcare tool for hospitals as it can lead to the improved quality of patient outcomes and reduce costs.”

Established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented a variety of risk and liability programs for hospitals that directly tie patient care and performance to annual reimbursement rates. Two of the programs, Hospital Value-based Purchasing and Hospital-acquired Condition Reduction Program directly correlate C. diff rates to future compensation. While core prevention strategies should be the first line of defense, algorithm testing can significantly reduce hospital costs, turnaround time, testing volumes and CDI rates.⁴

About C. diff and its Testing Methods

CDI is typically brought on by exposure to antibiotics in the healthcare setting. It also is being recognized as a community-acquired infection. The organism is present in up to 20 percent of samples submitted for hospital patients. It can live harmlessly in the gut of infants and adult carriers, but causes severe diarrheal disease in susceptible patients. C. diff typically produces two toxins (A&B) that damage the colon and cause diarrheal illness.⁵

Advancements in diagnostics and disease understanding have reduced the need for testing multiple stool samples in order to achieve an accurate diagnosis. Two-step algorithm testing provides a more complete picture than molecular testing alone. Molecular tests have a risk of false positive results which can lead to overtreatment and may expose patients to needless antibiotics or disrupt the treatment of other illnesses.⁶

C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE^® offers the convenience of simultaneous testing and provides separate results for both GDH and toxins A&B in a single rapid cassette. It is ideal for algorithm testing, providing reportable results on the majority of samples while reducing the cost and time burden of molecular testing.

About TECHLAB^®®

TECHLAB^®, Inc. (www.techlab.com) has been a leading developer and manufacturer of intestinal diagnostics products in the United States for 27 years. The Company has a market leading portfolio of diagnostic tests for enteric diseases including C. diff bacteria, parasitology and intestinal inflammation. TECHLAB^® is headquartered in Blacksburg, Va. and manufactures all of its diagnostic tests in the United States at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Radford, Va.

References

1. Magill et al. Multistate Point-Prevalence Survey of Health Care-Associated Infections. New England Journal of Medicine 2014; 370:1198-1208.
2. O’Brien J. et al. (2007). The Emerging Infectious Challenge of Clostridium difficile – Associated Disease in Massachusetts Hospitals: Clinical and Economic Consequences. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Vol. 28, Iss. 11, pp. 1219-1227.
3. Centers for Disease Control 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0225-clostridium-difficile.html. Accessed 12/16/15.
4. Uettwiller-Geiger DL. The Clinical Laboratory Plays a Key Role in Reducing Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) Hospital Associated Infection (HAI) Rates by Implementing a Simultaneous Two Test Algorithm for Rapid Identification of C. difficile. AACC Annual Meeting July 2011.
5. American Society for Microbiology (ASM). 2010. A Practical Guidance Document for the Laboratory Detection of Toxigenic Clostridium difficile. http://www.asm.org/images/pdf/Clinical/clostridiumdifficile9-21.pdf
6. Dubberke ER et al. 2011. J Clinical Microbiology. 49(8):2887-93.