The 2007 European Healthcare-Associated Infection Control Technology Leadership Award is conferred upon bioM?rieux in recognition of its unparalleled leadership and commitment toward healthcare-associated infection control and its pioneering and extensive work in this field.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are among bioM?rieux's six strategic disease areas. It is the company's objective to offer a complete and integrated solution for these infections, with bioM?rieux's product offerings spanning the range from manual and culture-based methods to automated and molecular techniques.

"bioM?rieux focuses on tackling HAI through comprehensive infection control programmes centered on three main areas - prevention, surveillance, and intervention," remarks Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Rasika Ramachandran. "Accordingly, the company has developed a comprehensive range of products, including genotyping technology to help hospitals uncover hidden reservoirs of resistant bacteria."

Corresponding to the main areas covered by infection control programmes, bioM?rieux's line includes prevention (to avoid the development of HAI): products for screening MRSA, ESBL, VRE, with chromogenic media (a new kind of culture media pioneered by bioM?rieux) such as chromID™ MRSA, chromID™ ESBL and chromID™ VRE.

"Moreover, bioM?rieux has a complete range of products for environmental control (for air, water, surfaces) and facilitates surveillance through efficient software that enables real-time detecting/alerting when there are unusual microorganisms, resistance mechanisms or performs statistical studies," states Rasika Ramachandran. "Intervention and rapid diagnosis in the case of HAI is performed with general diagnostic products such as VITEK® 2 for identification and susceptibility testing, agglutination tests, with more specific products dedicated to the identification of micro-organisms responsible for HAIs such as VIDAS® CDAB for the detection of Clostridium difficile, based on toxin detection." The pioneering DiversiLab® microbial genotyping system, positioned in this latter group, enables the detection and tracking of outbreaks.

The company has an extensive patent portfolio of over 400 families of patents. bioM?rieux has 45 years of experience in the detection and identification of resistance mechanisms and owns the intellectual property rights to several genetic sequences of infectious bacteria, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a leading cause of HAIs. It licenses these rights for assay development to other diagnostic companies under strategic alliance deals.

"bioM?rieux has partnered with key opinion leaders in infectious diseases from around the world so as to incorporate the best, both in terms of knowledge and technology, into its product offerings," comments Rasika Ramachandran. "This approach has been key to promoting continuous product innovation." Furthermore, to combat HAIs, bioM?rieux provides the scientific community with a unique opportunity to share expertise during the biennial World Healthcare-Associated Infection Forum. The company is also organising a symposium on HAI at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Barcelona this Sunday 20th April.

The company, with 13% of sales re-invested every year into R&D, has the highest R&D/Sales ratio of the top 10 diagnostic companies in the world. It has also built a ground-breaking centre for nano and micro technologies and molecular biology in Grenoble, France.

Frost & Sullivan's Technology Leadership Award is bestowed upon a company that has pioneered the development and introduction of an innovative technology into the market; a technology that has either impacted or has the potential to impact several market sectors. This award recognises a company's successful technology development that is expected to bring significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change, and competitive posture. It also recognizes the leadership of the company in the successful promotion of the technology and its continuing impact in technology commercialisation.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

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bioM?rieux Contact Information:
Koren Wolman-Tardy – Senior Director, External Communications
P: +33 4 78 87 20 08
E: media[.]eu.biomerieux.com.