Acolyte and Ploughshare Innovations agree an exclusive licence for adenylate kinase (AK) in veterinary diagnostics and clinical environmental monitoring
Acolyte Biomedica and Ploughshare Innovations, both based at Porton Down UK, have negotiated and agreed an exclusive global licence for the application of adenylate kinase (AK) in the fields of hygiene monitoring and clean-in-place monitoring of facilities, equipment and instruments used in clinical and veterinary practice.
In addition, the parties have agreed a licence for the application of adenylate kinase in microbial diagnosis of animal tissues and fluids within veterinary practice.
AK technology was originally developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory an agency of UK Ministry of Defence.
Ploughshare Innovations have responsibility for managing the commercial exploitation of the technology under the AK Rapid brand.
Unlike ATP, AK is present at constant levels in all eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells irrespective of the organism's metabolic state.
The amplification of the conversion of ADP to ATP gives sensitivities up to 100 times those of standard ATP bioluminescence and up to one million times those of conventional optical measurements.
Acolyte already has several AK Rapid products in the market under the BacLite and Rapitect brands.
BacLite flex is designed for rapid screening of hospital patients for MRSA colonisation and is routine use in both NHS and private hospitals in the UK.
It is the only available objective rapid screening test for MRSA which is culture based and therefore able to differentiate between viable and dead cells.
It can deliver confirmed negative results in five hours direct from patient specimen and confirmed positives the next working day.
Acolyte chairman Tim Coombs commented: "This further significant extension to our licence will see AK Rapid being used in the emerging field of environmental monitoring in hospitals where detection and eradication of resistant organisms is of paramount importance.
"Our move into veterinary practice recognises the rapid growth in antibiotic resistant pathogens which impact animal health and wellbeing whether domestic or farmed stock".
Andrew Tullock, CEO of Ploughshare Innovations, added: "Acolyte has demonstrated its ability to commercialise this highly sensitive detection technology in the most demanding markets.
"It is natural to extend their access into hospital hygiene and veterinary practice thus making the most of their product development expertise."
