During Becker’s 12th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, at an executive session sponsored by bioMérieux, Lauren Vento, medical science liaison lead at bioMérieux, moderated a discussion with three company leaders about how bioMérieux’s innovative diagnostic solutions can support the effective and rational use of antibiotics.
The panelists included:
- Sonali Kalathiya, PharmD, medical science liaison
- Allison McMullen, PhD, senior director, medical science liaison & medical advisor
- John Richter, director, public and government affairs
Three key takeaways were:
1. Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat
According to the CDC , at least 28% of antibiotics prescriptions are unnecessary in U.S. doctor’s offices and emergency departments. By 2050, AMR is likely to become the leading cause of global mortality.
2. New innovative tools and approaches can help curb those numbers
These include high-medical-value in vitro diagnostic solutions, such as the BIOFIRE® Blood Culture Identification Panel (BCID2). It identifies pathogen strains and resistance genes in one hour, guiding the effective and rational use of antibiotics.
By offering fast antimicrobial susceptibility testing, bioMérieux enables faster detection of AMR. Based on those results, the company generates consolidated data-driven insights to support medical decision-making.
These diagnostic and testing tools are particularly important given that patients are often not placed on the correct therapy due to the limitations of conventional diagnostics in detecting pathogen variants.
3. Hospitals’ antimicrobial stewardship programs benefit from new tools
Such programs are crucial due to their impact on patient care. “If you don’t start your patient on appropriate antibiotics quickly enough, that can have a lot of downstream effects, including mortality,” Ms. Kalathiya said. “The goal of antibiotic stewardship programs is to ensure we’re using antibiotics appropriately. That means the right drug at the right time at the right dose.” Lastly, engage with the Lab we encourage healthcare executives to visit their laboratories and learn about the technologies used.
