Meridian wins innovation award for illumigene Malaria test

Sep 2 2016

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. was awarded 1^st place for innovation in emergency treatment and point-of-care testing for its illumigene^® Malaria test at the 2016 JIB/ACNBH Conference this summer. Innovations from worldwide companies contributing to the development of the Medical Biology industry were put under the spotlight at this year’s conference held in Paris, France, and were reviewed by worldwide expert members in the medical biology field.

The illumigene Malaria test is a major step forward in providing faster, more accurate diagnoses that can lead to prompt treatment and better patient outcomes, as malaria remains one of the top 3 killers of children globally, claiming one life every minute of every day. The test is up to 400 times more sensitive at detecting the malaria parasite than conventional tests, potentially revolutionizing malaria diagnosis and establishing a new gold standard for both the developed and developing world. By using molecular LAMP technology,illumigene Malaria provides results in less than one hour, and does not require refrigeration or heating of materials, nor a high level of technical expertise.

Professor Daouda Ndiaye, chief of the laboratory of parasitology and mycology at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal, who presented the test at the event, commented:

This is not merely a scientific breakthrough. Faster and more accurate diagnosis is vital in the fight against malaria. Because of submicroscopic parasitemia carriage among the populations, a robust, sensitive and field community-deployable screening tool is needed to track the malaria reservoir in pre-elimination regions. The clinical trial I ran in Senegal for the validation of the test shows that illumigene Malaria has this capacity.

Meridian's product development strategy is driven by three core concepts—speed, simplicity, and accuracy - that empowers healthcare providers around the world to improve patient care. Slava Elagin, Executive Vice President Research & Development for Meridian Bioscience, said:

We are delighted that illumigene Malaria has been recognized as a breakthrough in emergency treatment and point-of-care testing and we look forward to more illumigene tests making a positive impact worldwide. We are evaluating a wide range of product ideas to assess which ones have the greatest potential to become the next breakthrough in diagnosis.

The illumigene Malaria test received the CE Mark in January of this year, and is available in the European, Middle Eastern and African regions by Meridian Bioscience Europe and in additional international markets by the Company’s global distribution network.