bioMérieux Launches Solutions to Manage the Antimicrobial Resistance Threat (S.M.A.R.T.) Campaign

bioMérieux – a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics – is heightening its role in the fight against antimicrobial resistance by launching its Solutions to Manage the Antimicrobial Resistance Threat (S.M.A.R.T.) Campaign at the upcoming 49th Annual Interscience Conference for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) event to be held in San Francisco, Sept. 12-15, 2009. Antimicrobial resistance and the spread of Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO) are worldwide public health issues that are exacerbated by increasing international travel, rising Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and the overuse or misuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

According to the CDC and The New England Journal of Medicine, humans consume 235 million doses of antibiotics annually. It is estimated that 20-50% of this use is unnecessary.^1,2 Another important factoid is that there are 41 million antibiotic prescriptions (US only) for respiratory infections, 22.5 million (55%) were estimated to have been prescribed for infections unlikely to have a bacterial origin.³

As a market leader in microbiology and a pioneer in automated resistance detection and susceptibility testing, bioMérieux’s solutions play an important role in the diagnosis and monitoring of infection, the prevention of transmission, the surveillance of resistance and support for the prudent use of antibiotics.

bioMerieux’s S.M.A.R.T. Campaign (biomerieux-usa.com/smart) promises to create more educational resources for the lab and to provide healthcare professionals with relevant tools and resources to identify, monitor, prevent and track resistance. Key areas of focus:

• Identifying Resistance: help clinicians get clear actionable information, so they can begin effective antibiotic therapy as early as possible.
• Monitoring Resistance: surveillance of antimicrobial resistance patterns at all levels – national, local, hospital and ward level is essential to set up effective antimicrobial policies
• Tracking Resistance: screening of patients and healthcare workers for Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO) is a key measure to contain the spread of resistance
• Preventing Resistance: differentiation between viral and bacterial infections - 75% of antibiotics are prescribed for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI)⁴, despite the fact that approximately 80% of them are of viral origin⁵
• Educating Resistance: promote scientific forums, documents and agreements to promote further information exchange and education on this key public health issue

According to Laxminarayan et al., over 60% of Staphylococcus aureus cases in hospital ICUs in some countries are now resistant to first-line antibiotics, including methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin⁶.

“This is a race against time, and the options are quite limited in the antimicrobial drug pipeline. bioMérieux’s S.M.A.R.T. Campaign’s goal is to help healthcare professional with their daily battle to contain and reduce antimicrobial resistance, said Herb Steward, executive vice president and general manager of bioMérieux North America. “These healthcare professionals constantly face new and complex challenges, and we can assist in many ways.”

Sept. 21 – 22, 2009, bioMérieux will organize the 2nd World HAI Forum, gathering together some 50 top international experts in the field, for two days of intensive debates aimed at making proposals to curb the devastating consequences of HAIs. The second edition of this biennial event will take place at the Fondation Mérieux Conference Center in Annecy, France.

As part of its commitment to fight HAIs, bioMérieux has organized HAI symposia around the world including events in the U.S., Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Japan and Korea over the past two years.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000, The New England Journal of Medicine, December 28, 2000
² Christ-Crain M, Jaccard-Stolz D, Bingisser R, Genday MM, Huber PR, Tamm M, Müller B. Effect of PCT-guided treatment on antibiotic use and outcome in lower respiratory tract infections: cluster-randomised single-blinded intervention trial. Lancet 2004; 363:600-607
³ Gonzales R. Malone DC et al. Excessive antibiotic use for acute respiratory infections in the United States. Clin Infect Dis 2001; 33:757-62
⁴ Briel M, Christ-Crain M, Young J, Schuetz P, Huber P, Periat P, Bucher HC, Müller B. Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic use versus a standard approach for acute respiratory tract infections in primary care: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial and baseline characteristics of participating general practitioners. BMC Family Practice 2005; 6:34
⁵ World Health Report. 2003
⁶ Laxminarayan, R., A. Malani. Extending the Cure: Policy responses to the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Washington, DC, Resources for the Future 2007.

About bioMérieux

Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 39 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2008, revenues reached €1.111 billion with 84% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cancer screening and monitoring and cardiovascular emergencies. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioMérieux is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris market (Code: BIM – Code ISIN: FR0010096479). Other information can be found at www.biomerieux-usa.com.

bioMérieux
Allan Mohess
Tel: + 1 919 620-2937
Allan.mohess@na.biomerieux.com

Fleishman Hillard
Tim Baker
Tel: + 1 216 338-8086
tim.baker@fleishman.com