Thermo Fisher has announced that its biomarker, BRAHMS PCT (procalcitonin), has been included in guidelines published by the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF).
This consensus document, the S3 guideline for epidemiology, diagnostics, anti-microbial therapy and management of adult patients with community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections and pneumonia, designates PCT as an inflammatory biomarker that helps better control antibiotic therapy.
Thermo Fisher will apply the findings to its specialty diagnostics research.
'The inclusion of PCT in the AWMF guidelines will help reduce the unnecessary administration of antibiotics and, as a result, improve the efficacy of antibiotics when they do need to be used,' said Dr Andreas Bergmann, chief research officer of BRAHMS AG.
The results of a multi-centric, randomised study involving 1,359 patients demonstrate that a systematic introduction of PCT can reduce the administration of antibiotics to a third and result in fewer antibiotic prescriptions and side effects.
The PCT biomarker is particularly effective with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).
BRAHMS products include specialty in-vitro diagnostic tests based on patented biomarkers for sepsis, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, as well as intensive care treatments and prenatal screening.
