EAST GRINSTEAD, West Sussex, U.K. and CLEVELAND, Nov. 18 TREK Diagnostic Systems, a Magellan Biosciences business and premier provider of diagnostic systems and susceptibility products for microbiology labs, has expanded its East Grinstead, U.K., manufacturing and research and development facility to meet increasing global demand for its Sensititre® product line for susceptibility and identification testing. The expanded facility has been fully validated, and will continue to deliver the same high-quality Sensititre products, including the popular Sensititre microbroth dilution plates used in clinical and veterinary microbiology laboratories worldwide.
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Just a short distance from TREK's original U.K. location, the new facility at Units 17 - 19 Birches Industrial Estate, East Grinstead, manufactures standard and custom susceptibility plates. Customers use these plates to determine what drugs and dosage levels are required to treat bacterial and yeast infections. Since the tests match the treatment course with the appropriate drugs, this helps address the growing problem of drug resistance.
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More than 100 people, including East Grinstead Town Councillor Bob Mainstone, representatives from U.K. Trade and Investment and the town government, TREK employees and their families, attended a grand-opening celebration on Monday, hosted by President of Magellan Clinical Diagnostics, James Whelan. The event included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, site tour, and fun, learn-about-microbiology activities for children.
"We outgrew our previous facility thanks to increasing demand for our expanding line of susceptibility products, which provide our customers with the cost-effective, and reliable microbiology results they need to make more-informed treatment decisions," said James Whelan. "The proliferation of drug-resistant infections means that clinicians and infection-control experts are looking to us to increase reportable and non-reportable compounds and treatment options that they can evaluate. We have a number of new IVD and RUO plates in development that we hope to launch in 2010, including a Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility plate for first- and second-line drugs."
During his remarks, Mr. Whelan spoke of TREK's decision to build the new facility in East Grinstead, "We have been a part of the community here for more than 30 years, and we're proud of our seasoned, experienced workforce. So when it came time to choose a location where we could expand, East Grinstead was the natural choice. Our new facility gives us the capacity to meet customer needs and allows for future expansion." Currently, 69 of TREK's 180 employees work at the East Grinstead location.
Commenting on the expansion, U.K. Minister for Trade, Investment and Small Business Lord Davies of Abersoch said in a statement, "The U.K. not only has the largest pharmaceuticals industry in Europe, it is also the number one location in Europe for R&D. Globally, one in five of the world's medicines were developed in the U.K. Although the U.K. accounts for just three percent of the global pharmaceutical market, we attract 10 percent of its R&D. I warmly welcome Magellan Bioscience's decision to expand its operations in the U.K. and look forward to hearing more about its successes."
Over the past 18 months, TREK has introduced a number of new in vitro diagnostics (IVD) plates, including a GRAM positive plate used in MRSA detection, which is FDA-cleared for D-Test and Cefoxitin screening; YeastOne plates available with five IVD-cleared antifungal compounds: itraconazole, fluconazole, 5-flucytosine, voriconazole and caspofungin; as well as new plates for research use only (RUO).
About the Sensititre Product Line
TREK's signature Sensititre product line for susceptibility and identification testing enables labs to test -- on a single cost-effective, LIS-compatible system -- more FDA-cleared antimicrobial drugs than on any other automated platform against the widest range of non-fastidious and fastidious bacteria and yeasts. This saves microbiology labs from having to use multiple off-line test procedures to obtain accurate susceptibility data. In order to increase reportable compounds and treatment options for clinicians, TREK obtains FDA clearance where feasible and appropriate. TREK often gets early access to the latest therapeutics because pharmaceutical companies use the Sensititre system during drug development. TREK's platform is also the system-of-choice for global surveillance initiatives, including NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System). TREK offers a full range of standard and custom Sensititre plates featuring 18- to 24-hour incubation, true MIC endpoints, and on-scale QC ranges, making susceptibility testing a viable procedure for virtually any size laboratory. The Vizion® system adds easy-to-read digital imaging capability to take the guesswork out of reading susceptibility results. Small minimum order quantities allow for better cost and inventory control. To learn more about custom plates, call customer service toll-free at 800 871-8909. Outside the US and Canada, dial +44 (0) 1342-318777 or e-mail: [email protected]
About TREK Diagnostic Systems (www.trekds.com)
A Magellan Biosciences clinical-diagnostics business dedicated to serving the unique needs of microbiology customers, TREK Diagnostic Systems is a premier provider of advanced systems and consumables for blood culture and antimicrobic-susceptibility testing. Hospital-based, reference, and other microbiology labs trust our products to identify pathogens in patients' blood, and to determine what antimicrobial therapies are effective against them. Clinical, research, pharmaceutical, and veterinary customers count on our staff's microbiology expertise, lab-process savvy, and reliable support to help them address the serious and growing problem of drug-resistant infections. We deliver our advanced technology worldwide as flexible solutions that provide fast, consistent results, while reducing lab and pharmacy costs and improving patient care. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, TREK has additional facilities in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and East Grinstead, U.K.
SOURCE TREK Diagnostic Systems
