US-based medical technology firm Becton Dickinson and Company (BD) has signed a co-exclusive collaboration with device development company Magnolia Medical Technologies.
The collaboration is designed to help US hospitals reduce blood culture contamination and improve testing accuracy, said BD.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will jointly sell and market Magnolia Medical’s Steripath and Steripath Micro Initial Specimen Diversion Device platforms.
The Steripath platforms would complement its specimen collection portfolio, including BD Vacutainer push button and BD Vacutainer UltraTouch blood collection sets, said BD.
BD integrated diagnostic solutions president “Sepsis is the number one cause of death, readmissions and costs in hospitals today. It’s estimated that up to 56% of positive blood cultures can be contaminated during collection.
“Reducing blood culture contamination can help improve testing accuracy and ultimately improve clinical outcomes and may lessen the threat of antibiotic resistance by giving health care practitioners more specific, reliable results.”
According to BD, Steripath is the only FDA-approved device platform specifically indicated to reduce blood culture contamination for sepsis testing accuracy.
The Steripath Initial Specimen Diversion Devices will divert and sequester the initial 1.5 to 2ml of contaminated blood from the sample and then collect blood for blood cultures.
Steripath is said to be the only platform to meet the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute’s (CLSI) 1% blood culture contamination goal, and CDC’s new guidelines.
The CDC guidelines specifically recommend the use of Initial Specimen Diversion Devices.
Steripath devices have been adopted by hundreds of hospitals and healthcare systems in the US, to address the problem of blood culture contamination.
Blood culture contamination may lead to sepsis misdiagnosis resulting in undesired, prolonged, and harmful antibiotic treatment, which extends the length of hospital stay.
Magnolia Medical CEO Greg Bullington said: “This collaboration represents a strong step forward in advancing our Mission to ZERO initiative to increase awareness within the healthcare community of the role that accurate testing plays in enabling antimicrobial stewardship and quality outcomes.
“By offering a combined innovative technology solution with the Steripath Initial Specimen Diversion Device platform and BD Vacutainer push-button and BD Vacutainer UltraTouch blood collection sets, we are aligning our shared commitment to improve patient outcomes, helping hospitals achieve their quality goals, and reduce unnecessary hospital costs.”
