bioMérieux and JMI Laboratories (JMI) entered a six-year partnership to undertake collaborative projects evaluating the performance and increasing potential of rapid and innovative microbiology diagnostics as important tools in the battle against AMR.

“As global organizations committed to world-class antimicrobial stewardship as a way to combat AMR, we’ve partnered to establish and address contemporary issues of antimicrobial resistance and ensure accurate AST results to guide effective treatment and optimize patient care,” said Mark Miller, chief medical officer, bioMérieux.

“We are excited to partner with bioMérieux on these projects as we appreciate their commitment to improving patient care by providing accurate microbial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results,” said Mariana Castanheira, chief scientific officer of JMI Labs. “Our industry-leading scientists look forward to managing these studies testing challenging organisms, including those carrying important mechanisms of resistance.”

According to the two companies, understanding the epidemiology of resistance mechanisms through active antimicrobial surveillance is vital for the improved detection of circulating resistance factors across geographies.

bioMérieux is recognized globally for its advancements in rapid and actionable diagnostics, such as faster pathogen identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) to support antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) efforts. This includes the VITEK 2, VITEK REVEAL, the VITEK MS platform and ETEST gradient strips.

JMI is a market leader in antimicrobial resistance monitoring studies, by specializing in the advancement of antimicrobial therapies, state-of-the-art surveillance, and post-market observations and insights in the AST field.

While Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) are critically dependent on rapid, reliable testing, there is an essential need for AST results to be continuously evaluated against new and emerging strains of pathogens from across the globe that may have developed new resistance mechanisms or additional levels of resistance to current treatments.

Through the partnership with JMI, bioMérieux will be able to continually assess AST/AES results and validate against evolving global antimicrobial susceptibility data collected through the JMI-led SENTRY program.