Analytik Jena to Develop Products for Sepsis Diagnostics

Analytik Jena has acquired all of the assets of the insolvent company SIRS-Lab GmbH as part of an asset deal. A contract covering the deal was signed by the Jena-based instrument manufacturer and the insolvency administrator LEONHARDT. SIRS-Lab, a company that develops molecular diagnostics methods and testing systems for life-threatening infections like sepsis, had filed for insolvency in December 2012. Analytik Jena AG, which as part of the acquisition will also take on the entire range of product expertise, including more than 50 patents and 10 employees at the Jena site, will for the first time be entering the worldwide growth market of sepsis diagnostics, continuing the intensive development work and the expertise of SIRS-Lab in this field.
 
"In recent years, SIRS-Lab has built up considerable competence in the field of sepsis analytics and has achieved initial successes. The results from a first application study are highly promising. The aim is to identify life-threatening infections quickly and early. In particular, the region around Jena with the University Hospital and various research institutions offers excellent conditions to allow us to be able to serve this large market with products in the future," says Klaus Berka, CEO of Analytik Jena AG.
 
SIRS-Lab was founded in 2000 as a spin-off of the Friedrich Schiller University at the Jena Sepsis Competence Center by a high-caliber team of scientists of international renown with the aim of combating the high mortality rate associated with sepsis (blood poisoning). Among the founders were such renowned scientists as Prof. Dr. Konrad Reinhart, Director of the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Medicine, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Straube, former Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the University of Jena, and Prof. Dr. Hanspeter Saluz, Head of the Cell and Molecular Biology department at the Hans-Knöll Institute in Jena. With the product LOOXSTER®, the company developed a patented technology for concentrating bacterial and fungal DNA in diagnostic samples. This product has been used in VYOO®, the CE-certified product for sepsis diagnostics. SIRS-Lab was also developing an innovative gene expression product (SIQNATURE®) to indicate the body's immune response to an infection. A related test developed by SIRS-Lab is almost ready for the market. All SIRS-Lab developments are designed to enable improved and faster diagnostics on patients with systemic infections.
 
"I am delighted that, in the form of Analytik Jena, an investor has been found who will continue the valuable work that has been carried out in recent years in the field of the diagnosis of life-threatening infections, continuing the fight against sepsis," says Prof. Konrad Reinhart, Director of the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Therapy (KAI) at the University Hospital of Jena.
 
Analytik Jena, which is already profiting from revenue in the public healthcare sector in the field of life science, has set out plans to focus more strongly on routine diagnostics and to work more closely with hospital and clinical partners in the process. SIRS-Lab was a member of the German Sepsis Society and collaborated with many internationally renowned partners, including the University Hospital of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, which only received the green light from an international jury of experts to develop an integrated research and treatment center for sepsis and related illnesses in January 2010.
 
"We also see our commitment in a regional context," explains Berka. Accordingly, one of the main concerns is to keep important expertise and research and development capacities at the site.