Last week, the Southwestern Association of Clinical Microbiology held its annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. There, attendees had two opportunities to hear ASTar® evaluation data presented by a leading US research hospital. This event was the first time that ASTar data from a US hospital have been shared publicly.

The poster presentation highlighted key findings, including a greater than 38-hour reduction in time to antibiotic susceptibility test results and an overall 98% total essential agreement and an overall 94% categorical agreement with standard of care methods.

A supporting presentation by a pathologist included additional analytical data and retrospective chart reviews to demonstrate the potential clinical impact of using ASTar. She stated that ASTar results would have supported faster de-escalation of antibiotic therapy in 56% of cases, faster escalation of antibiotic therapy in 18% of cases, and numerous dosage and route of delivery adjustments in other cases.

Jim Kathrein, VP US Commercial Operations, said: “ASTar performance and results are in line with what has been shown previously in several European studies. We look forward to the conclusion of the study, demonstrating how ASTar supports optimization of treatment for patients with bloodstream infections in this setting.”