GLASGOW, UK, September 15, 2017.
Qnostics, a leading European provider of molecular quality control products and services for clinical diagnostic laboratories, announced today the launch of the Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) Evaluation Panel for multiplex molecular diagnostic testing. The Panel consists of a total of 14 different controls for the qualitative detection of Bacterial, Viral, and Fungal targets i.e. Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Escherichia coli K1, Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Herpes Simplex Virus 1, Herpes Simplex Virus 2, Human Herpes Virus 6, Enterovirus, Human Parechovirus, Varicella Zoster Virus and Cryptococcus neoformans / gattii. The ME Evaluation Panel may be used to independently monitor each target and all phases of the testing process to ensure consistent and accurate results.
“With the increase of installations of multiplex molecular diagnostic platforms and disease-specific tests in the clinical lab, it is critical that hospitals are able to implement and monitor these tests with the appropriate level of quality control,” said Frank Opdam, Head of Commercial of Qnostics. “Many critical and costly treatment decisions will be based on the results of these tests so it is important that the tests are properly verified on a regular basis and during reagent lot changes. The ME Panel serves especially the European, Middle East and African (EMEA) markets where we received messages that quality control materials for the meningitis-disease related range of targets were difficult to get hold off’. Each of the panel members are whole organism mimicking patient sample as close as possible.
The Qnostics ME Evaluation panel has been designed with known performance on the BioFire FilmArray® Platform. Charudutt Shah, Director of Marketing EMEA for BioFire Diagnostics said: “I am really delighted to be able to support our customer base better now with a quality control solution that can help the labs to maintain regulatory compliance for our qualitative FilmArray® ME Panel. Our panel simultaneously tests for 14 bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens in one hour which is often a challenge for customers to verify. The introduction of Qnostics panel now allows our customers to perform assay verification optimally and improve lab efficiency.” The Qnostics ME Panel is optimised with a pooling strategy for assay verification which is described in a technical note. The technical note can be extracted by FilmArray® users from BioFire’s website.
This product is for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
SOURCE Qnostics Ltd.
About Qnostics
Qnostics Ltd., with head-quarter in Glasgow UK, provides a comprehensive line of molecular diagnostic quality control products that assist laboratories in meeting current ISO15189 regulations regarding quality. Qnostics consistently develops new standards, external run controls, and evaluation kits for molecular testing in clinical diagnostic laboratories. All Qnostics procedures are developed and manufactured in an ISO13485 certified facility.