The FDA granted approval to Clever Culture Systems, a venture between Australian medical firm LBT Innovations Limited and lab equipment maker Hettich AG of Switzerland, for the Automated Plate Assessment System (APAS). APAS aims to automate and expedite the process of analyzing microorganism cultures in order to guide and expedite patient treatment.
The US FDA de novo approval was granted following a successful one-year clinical trial where APAS matched, and often exceeded, the performance of trained microbiologists in screening and reading agar plates accurately and efficiently.
APAS works by capturing a digital image of an agar plate and then utilizing artificial intelligence algorithms to read and analyze any microorganism growth in less than 20 seconds. A trained microbiologist typically requires one minute to complete this process. Based on these findings, some studies suggest that APAS could cut processing costs up to 40 percent. Additionally, by shortening the turnaround time between receiving a specimen and reporting the results to providers, APAS allows for earlier diagnosis and treatment identification for patients, which improves patient quality of care and will potentially save lives.
LBT Innovations and other medical development companies, such as bioMérieux, continue to work on expanding the role of automation in microbiology laboratories. Given the estimate that 2.1 billion microorganism cultures are processed annually, the financial, operational, and clinical implications of automated systems become tremendous.
Product page: Automated Plate Assessment System…
Via: LBT Innovations…
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