The need for revolutionary targeted treatments in Indian Healthcare System

By Mr Amit Chopra, Managing Director, India & Middle East, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Respiratory diseases range in severity from mild common colds to pneumonia that can be viral, bacterial or fungal in nature. Commonly, patients get a virus first, weakening their immune system and making them susceptible to bacterial infections like pneumonia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), seasonal influenza alone results in three to five million cases of severe illness, killing about 290,000 to 650,000 people globally each year.

Most respiratory disease tests are one-size-fit-all, inaccurate and prone to contamination making it difficult for doctors to prescribe the most effective treatment plan. This can pose a threat, especially for children, elderly adults, the immune compromised and the chronically ill. The incorrect prescription of wrong antibiotics prolongs the patient’s sickness, increases the healthcare costs and contributes to the global antibiotic resistance.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s new respiratory disease detection kit, uses the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) syndromic panels to detect the root cause of respiratory diseases, identify effective treatments and ensure patients get on the road to recovery quickly.The qPCR-based technique is used to amplify DNA – to detect, identify and quantify certain characteristics that may be present in the sample. The syndromic panels test, used for multiple elements can identify whether a respiratory pathogen is viral,bacterial or fungal,as well asdetect the presence of multidrug resistance genes (MDRGs) that may limit the effectiveness of certain antibiotics. Thermo Fisher’s 42 validated targets is the most effective qPCR syndromic panel delivering results in just four hours. The Applied Biosystems TaqMan Array cards or Applied Biosystems Open Array panels for medium or high throughput respectively can tailor the panel with different markers according to the testing requirements. The company has also developed a new multiplex RT-PCR TaqPathTM COVID-19 Combo kit which is faster and a highly sensitive multiplex diagnostic solution that contains both the assays and controls needed for the RT-PCR detection of RNA from the virus. The single, high-throughput (1,000 reactions) kit is recommended for use with our 7500 Fast Dx,7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System (RUO version),Applied Biosystems QuantStudio™ 5,QuantStudio™ 7 Flex Real-Time PCR System (96 well & 384 well blocks)linked with COVID-19 Interpretive Software.Additionally, to improve the quality of reporting the AcroMetrix™ COVID-19 RNA control kit helps validate the performance of molecular tests for detecting COVID-19. It is a positive control kit containing low positive and ultra-low positive concentrations to avoid false-negative results.

In India, to date, the testing measures are confined to symptomatic individuals and contact tracing leading to a surge for efficient and precise diagnostic kits. Amidst the preventive chaos, there is also a need for more precise risk-assessment methodology to help triage COVID-19 patients and curb the mounting pressures on the healthcare institutions.

One such biomarker based assay, Procalcitonin (PCT)is widely used to assess the risk of bacterial co-infection andprogression to severe sepsis and septic shock in patients with suspected or confirmed lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP), ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) and acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD).The preemptive utilization of BRAHMS PCT biomarker comes as a valuable tool to identify patients at high risk for bacterial coinfection alongside the presence of COVID-19 virus, in early diagnosis of sepsis to promptly provide treatment and mitigate fatal complications.

With the COVID-19 outbreak becoming health emergency that has ravaged the globe, Thermo Fisher is actively engaged in working to develop new and innovative solutions to mass-produce precise testing kitsand support healthcare ecosystems everywhere. As the world leader in serving science, our products and technologies serve as key drivers inhelping government, health organizations and scientific communities to quickly and accurately respond to the outbreak.

Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)