OpGen Awarded CDC Contract to Develop Clinical Support Tools for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Control
October 23 2017 - 11:00AM
OpGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPGN) today announced that it has been awarded
a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) to develop smartphone-based clinical decision support
solutions for antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and infection control
in low- and middle-income countries. The one-year $860,000 award
began September 30, 2017 and funds development and evaluation of
cloud-based mobile software. OpGen will work with partners Teqqa,
LLC and Universidad El Bosque (UEB) of Bogota, Colombia led by
Maria Virginia Villegas, M.D., M.Sc.
“OpGen looks forward to working with the CDC to
help address this urgent global need,” stated Evan Jones, Chairman
& CEO of OpGen. “Improving antimicrobial stewardship worldwide
has been identified by the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO)
and governments worldwide as a core activity in the fight to
contain and manage infections from multidrug-resistant
pathogens.”
OpGen’s teaming partner Teqqa will provide its
cloud- and mobile-based software platform, which integrates
electronic patient data and local empiric treatment guidelines to
support antimicrobial stewardship. The Teqqa platform is a
state-of-the-art mobile AMS solution that is commercially available
and in use in major medical centers. The mobile platform will be
extended to quickly identify patients requiring infection control
precautions, assist with the implementation of appropriate
precautions, and assist with the collection and tracking of
indicators for monitoring implementation of infection control
precautions. The software will be translated to Spanish and will
support WHONET data integration.
“Connection to WHONET is a critical enabling
component to this initiative,” continued Mr. Jones. “WHONET is an
information system developed to support the World Health
Organization’s goal of global surveillance of bacterial resistance
to antimicrobial agents. WHONET analyzes the data of over 4,000
laboratories worldwide and is used in more than 120 countries.”
“Dr. Villegas and the UEB team will guide the
customization of the AMS software for the needs of low- and
middle-income countries. They also will work with OpGen and
Teqqa to deploy the software in three medical sites in Colombia to
assess the effectiveness of the effort. Through this initial
pilot we hope to gain experience and positive results to support
the expansion of this important initiative further,” continued Mr.
Jones.
About the CDC BAA Awards
According to the CDC, it has awarded more than
$9 million to explore gaps in knowledge about antibiotic resistance
and pilot innovative solutions in the healthcare, veterinary and
agriculture industries. The funding supports 25 projects, including
eighteen academic collaborators and leading healthcare related
organizations and institutions.
These awards, made through a broad agency
announcement (BAA), are part of the CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance
Solutions Initiative and are intended to grow the agency’s
innovative approaches to combat antibiotic resistance. In fiscal
years 2016 and 2017, the Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative
awarded more than $24 million to BAA awardees to fight antibiotic
resistance.
About OpGenOpGen,
Inc. is harnessing the power of informatics and genomic
analysis to provide complete solutions for patient, hospital and
network-wide infection prevention and treatment. For more
information, please visit www.opgen.com.
OpGen® is a registered trademark of OpGen,
Inc.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis
press release includes statements relating to the implementation of
the contract awarded to OpGen by the CDC and the goals of the
project. These statements and other statements regarding OpGen’s
future plans constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section
21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are intended to
qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that are often difficult to
predict, are beyond OpGen’s control, and which may cause results to
differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause
results to differ materially from those described include, but are
not limited to, OpGen’s ability to successfully implement the
awarded contract. For a discussion of the most significant
risks and uncertainties associated with OpGen's business, please
review its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which are based on OpGen’s expectations
as of the date of this press release and speak only as of the date
of this press release. OpGen undertakes no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
OpGen Contact:Michael FarmerSr. Director,
Marketing240-813-1284mfarmer@opgen.comInvestorRelations@opgen.com
Investor Contact:LHA Investor RelationsKim
Sutton Golodetz212-838-3777kgolodetz@lhai.comorBruce
Voss310-691-7100bvoss@lhai.com
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