In the News
- Sep 14, 2011 - WHO Roadmap to Contain Rise of Drug-Resistant TB in Europe
(London, United Kingdom) — An action plan to combat the alarming rise in the incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) in Europe was announced by the WHO Regional Office for Europe today.
- Jul 29, 2011 - Clinical Chemists and Medical Laboratory Professionals Gather at AACC’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta
Honors for the most spectacular new product launch must go to Cepheid Systems. Because of advanced mailings to AACC attendees, and a clever marketing campaign, Cepheid attracted a big crowd at its booth on Tuesday morning as the exhibition opened. They were there to greet celebrity motorcycle designer Paul Teutul, Jr., and his team as they pulled the curtain away from their creation—a chopper themed around Cepheid’s GeneXpert Systems and molecular diagnostic testing.
- Jun 30, 2011 - Paul Jr. Designs: Cepheid Bike Build
Paul Jr. Designs has teamed up with Cepheid, a manufacturer and developer of microfluidics and microelectronics technologies for DNA analysis, to build a custom-themed bike.
- Apr 19, 2011 - How to Wipe Out Tuberculosis
Three African health ministers make the case for consigning TB to medical history.
- Jan 03, 2011 - The Tuberculosis War: Fighting the Spread of TB
Few Resources and Poverty Fuel Tuberculosis in India and Cambodia but Experts Say the Epidemic Can Be Stopped
- Dec 31, 2010 - Disasters, Discoveries Dominate Health News in 2010
A wide range of health stories dominated the news in the year 2010. From a cholera outbreak in Haiti, to a new, faster tuberculosis test, to a United Nations report showing progress against AIDS – good and bad health news dominated the media.
- Dec 21, 2010 - Breakthrough in TB Diagnostics
A rapid DNA-based diagnostic test for tuberculosis could help health workers in poor countries detect drug-resistant forms of the infection much earlier, making it easier to treat.
- Dec 20, 2010 - New Rapid Molecular Pathology Test for Tuberculosis Wins Favor with World Health Organization
It’s big news when an international health body endorses a new proprietary clinical laboratory test. That’s why pathologists will be interested to learn that, earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) publicly recommended that nations incorporate a new rapid molecular test for tuberculosis into their disease testing programs.
- Dec 17, 2010 - ABC News: War Against Tuberculosis
Be the Change: Save a Life — ABC News kicks off year-long global health care series
- Nov 08, 2010 - The NewYorker
- Sep 02, 2010 - Cepheid's TB, Drug-Resistance Assay Shines as POC Test in Developing World
A PCR-based molecular test for tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance developed by Cepheid and public sector partners has received a clinical vote of confidence for its ability to perform in remote and resource-poor regions of the world.
- Aug 16, 2010 - Lab Now Able to Have MRSA Test Results in Hours Not Days
Patient safety is a top priority at Cleveland County HealthCare System. The leadership and staff are constantly looking for ways to improve the level of safety and quality provided to their patients.
- Feb 09, 2010 - A testing first: moderate complexity PCR for H1N1
With its announcement Jan. 4 ofa PCR test for H1N1 that can be run in less than an hour, Cepheidaccelerates the trend to make molecular the standard for flu testing.
- Jan 06, 2010 - Cepheid Tackles a Major Hospital Expense
One of the biggest problems for older or chronically ill patients isthe risk of additional infections once in the hospital setting
- Nov 04, 2009 - C.diff cases may be twice as high as tests miss infection
The number of cases of the hospital bug C.diff could be twice as high as previously thought as current tests used by the NHS are failing to pick up the infection, experts have claimed.
- Sep 22, 2009 - Universal Screening Helps Prevent MRSA Hospital Infection Outbreaks
Researchers said that hospital-acquired infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be largely prevented by identifying carriers of the organismwhen patients are admitted to the hospital
- Sep 15, 2009 - Tests to Rapidly Diagnose Sepsis Essential
Diagnostic That Can Quickly Detect Infection Could Speed Treatment and Improve Outcome
- Jul 16, 2009 - Taking Control of Tuberculosis
Current diagnostic tools take weeks to provide accurate results allowing time for co-infection and spread of disease. Here, Dr Ellen Jo Baron sets the scene for a new diagnostic test able to revolutionise TB management on a global scale
- Jun 24, 2009 - Speeding up infection detection: Hospitals begin to embrace rapid lab tests
With greater attention being paid to health care-associated infections, more and more facilities are taking a hard look at rapid lab tests. These tests, which can detect infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, generate results in hours as opposed to days.
- Jun 23, 2009 - World MRSA Day Momentum Builds In The US And The UK
MRSA Survivors Network is building momentum in the US, the UK and worldwide
- Jun 03, 2009 - For C. diff, the shift is on—moving to real-time PCR
Tracy Wilkins and David Lyerly wrote a review article in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology back in ’03, and the title was, ‘Clostridium difficiletesting: After 20 years, still challenging,’” he says. “I’d like toupdate that to be: ‘After 26 years, more challenging.’ Because it is.”
- Jun 01, 2009 - Prevalence of C. diff in hospital patients
Clostridium difficile is much more prevalent in America's hospitals than previously believed, says a study in the May American Journal of Infection Control.
- May 25, 2009 - A Timely Test:
All-in-One Cartridge May Speed TB Detection
- May 08, 2009 - Science Magazine: Molecular Diagnostics: Personalizing Personalized Medicine
Bringing digital power to traditional analog medicine, the field "is absolutely going to revolutionize health care," says Harry Glorikian, managing partner at Scientia Advisors.
- May 05, 2009 - Wall Street Journal: How I Got Here
Fred C. Tenover turned an early love of science into a successful microbiology career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He published 290 papers and became a noted specialist in drug resistant bacteria and moved into the private sector in 2008.
- Apr 17, 2009 - Hospitals spending more on hygiene, testing to fight 'super bug'
An estimated $3 billion is spent annually to treat patients who are infected while in a hospital, a cost the facilities are increasingly being forced to bear themselves.
- Mar 20, 2009 - Road to recovery: Tax law revision may entice firms to expand in the Silicon Valley
The state’s recent decision to revise a corporate income tax formula is expected to encourage big pharmaceutical companies to stay in Silicon Valley.
- Mar 09, 2009 - Germs on the run: New law has hospitals turning up the fight against infections
In the life-and-death war against germs,especially the superbug MRSA, a state law as of Jan. 1 requireshospitals to implement control measures and tests on patients in aneffort to stop the spread of hospital-acquired infections.
- Mar 05, 2009 - Implementing a real-time PCR assay for rapid surveillance of MRSA
Most healthcare institutions in the United States have been watching an ominous trend of escalating proportions of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus infections.
- Feb 24, 2009 - ABC News: Little-known bug becoming epidemic
Bay Area researchers are helping lead the fight against a little-knownsuperbug being described by some hospitals as an epidemic.
- Feb 19, 2009 - Glimmers of hope in C. diff testing
How fitting that the shorthand name of one of the wiliest health care-associated infections—C. difficile—sounds so much like “c’est difficile,” French for “it is difficult.”
- Feb 09, 2009 - Improving Screening In Paediatrics
Birmingham Children’s Hospital believes that rapid detection of high-risk patients is crucial and is expanding its screening programme beyond the Government’s requirements.
- Jan 15, 2009 - Jennie Edmundson Hospital launches molecular testing
“This is a huge step forward for patients in this hospital, as well as infection control.”
- Dec 22, 2008 - Cepheid, Maker of Test to Spot MRSA Staph Infections, Builds Growing Presence in Washington
Lots of innovation is happening inside nondescript office buildings in Bothell...
- Dec 15, 2008 - Hospital uses new MRSA test
A Dorset hospital has begun to use a new kind of lab test that detects MRSA in hours rather than days.
- Dec 15, 2008 - Rapid PCR could cut intrapartum antibiotic use
Washington -- Use of real-time polymerase chain reaction to screen forgroup B Streptococcus in the delivery room could reduce the use ofintrapartum antibiotics by more than half
- Dec 04, 2008 - Halting infection at the door
The veterans hospital in Omaha and its counterparts nationwide aretaking the rare step of testing every inpatient for a contagious,drug-resistant bacteria.
- Nov 20, 2008 - NBC News: New test screens for MRSA
A company called Cepheid has developed a way to identify the exact strain of MRSA in just an hour, instead of a couple of days.
- Nov 04, 2008 - One in ten children in intensive care have MRSA
One tenth of all children admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit have been found to carry MRSA. This was discovered at Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, after it introduced same-day MRSA screening for patients admitted to the PICU a month ago.
- Nov 04, 2008 - New MRSA Test - Birmingham Children's Hospital
Birmingham Children's Hospital is the first in the country to use a new test from the US, that can detect the potentially fatal superbug MRSA. The test means that the bug can be detected in an hour, whereas previously used tests to detect MRSA have taken around three days to establish whether a patient has contracted it or not.
- Nov 03, 2008 - Perfect Companions
Collaborations bridge the gap between drug development andPCR-based companion diagnostic assays in the spirit of a morepersonalized approach.
- Oct 31, 2008 - Bay Area Company May Help in Fight Against Superbug
A Sunnyvale company has developed a new test that can determine in just one hour if a patient has the superbug known as MRSA.
- Oct 28, 2008 - Fast MRSA test proves 100% accurate
A new method to detect the superbug MRSA that only takes a fraction of the time of previous tests has so far proved 100% accurate, according to the company that developed it.
- Oct 28, 2008 - MRSA aid for young
Doctors at Birmingham Children’s Hospital are now rewriting medical myths that children are not prone to carrying MRSA bacteria, with concerns that half of its cases were going undetected until too late. The trust has become one of the first to use a 100 per cent accuracy Cepheid XpertMRSA test that produces results within an hour.
- Oct 21, 2008 - Real-Time PCR Bridges Molecular Biology and Clinical Diagnostics
Doctors at Birmingham Children’s Hospital are now rewriting medical myths that children are not prone to carrying MRSA bacteria, with concerns that half of its cases were going undetected until too late. The trust has become one of the first to use a 100 per cent accuracy Cepheid XpertMRSA test that produces results within an hour.
- Oct 09, 2008 - Cepheid Receives FDA Clearance on Second MRSA Test
Cepheid’s Xpert MRSA/SA BC test processes positive blood culture specimens to determine if a patient’s blood is infected with MRSA or SA, which are frequent causes of sepsis in hospitalized patients. This may enable physicians to quickly de-escalate from broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment to a more effective targeted therapy, thus reducing risk of resistance and improving patient outcomes.
- Sep 26, 2008 - University of Arizona expert helps launch rapid test for 'superbug'
When hospitals were looking for a quicker way to detect a type of bacteria blamed for 95,000 infections and as many as 19,000 deaths each year, University of Arizona medical microbiologist Donna Wolk stepped up to the bench.
- May 19, 2008 - Inside Track: Cepheid: An interview with David Persing, MD
In the early 1990s, David Persing, MD, PhD, founded and oversaw the molecular microbiology lab at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, which pioneered many diagnostic techniques used in molecular pathology labs. He joined Cepheid, Sunnyvale, Calif, in 2004, where he leads efforts to fully automate the complex processes behind real-time molecular diagnostics
- May 01, 2008 - Tactics for Training Staff on New Technologies
Twenty-five years ago, Kary Mullis developed the polymerase chainreaction (PCR). This technology quickly changed molecular biology.Today, though, that once-complicated process can be performed by almostanyone working in a lab
- Feb 15, 2008 - Preventing A Superbug
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA) is a common cause of skin infections. It can also cause pneumonia, ear infections and sinusitis. MRSA bacteria are sometimes dubbed "superbugs" because they are highly resistant to common antibiotics like penicillin, making infections difficult to treat effectively . . .
- Feb 01, 2008 - Hospitals Turn To It For Defense
When you gotta have it, you gotta have it. And hospitals gotta have weapons against infections within their walls -- especially methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA . . .
- Jan 02, 2008 - Cepheid: Is the MRSA Infection an Investment Opportunity?
I have written about the killer, super-bug staph infection MRSA, but new, proposed legislation in California is bound to make it a headline again -- and a big one!
- Jan 01, 2008 - I Want It Now! New developments continue to improve stat-testing turnaround
New developments continue to improve stat-testing turnaround. Stat testing will never fall by the wayside, but its handling has undergone significant change . . .
- Jan 01, 2008 - For molecular, a brand-new way
. . . There are a good 10 or 12 companies I know about that, in various phases of development, are working to develop POC molecular diagnostics. They’re not ready for prime time—with the single exception of Cepheid and its platform called GeneXpert . . .
- Dec 01, 2007 - Obstacles to Exploitation of miRNA Falling
t’s 2007, and at this point miRNA needs no introduction. Just in case you’re late to the party, though, miRNAs are small, single-stranded nucleotides, which were originally believed to have little impact on gene expression and protein formation . . .
- Nov 16, 2007 - Superbug bumps up Cepheid
n the six months since Cepheid Inc. won FDA approval for its GeneXpert test, stock almost quadrupuled from a low of $7.40 to a high of $27.60, and third quarter revenue jumped to $36.3 million -- 53 percent above the same period the previous year . . .
- Nov 01, 2007 - Weathering The Biomarker Blizzard
In the late 1800s, Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch invented the sphygmomanometer the analog device most medical professionals still use to measure blood pressure. Thus came the detection and quantitation of a significant, early biomarker. Over the last two centuries, many more biomarkers emerged, including today's sophisticated molecular biomarkers, a key ingredient of modern biotech and pharma. "Right now, biomarkers lie very close to the top of the value chain," says David Persing, chief medical and technology officer at Cepheid in Sunnyvale, California.
- Oct 28, 2007 - Cepheid Inc. of Sunnyvale to help defeat dangerous 'superbug'
Cepheid Inc. first made its name with anthrax-detection tests to guard the nation's post offices from bioterrorism attacks back in 2001. Now, the Sunnyvale company's gene-based testing system is becoming part of an escalating nationwide defense against the deadly "superbug" called MRSA, which is often innocently spread by well-meaning health care workers . . .
- Oct 28, 2007 - Cepheid Inc. of Sunnyvale to help defeat dangerous 'superbug'
Cepheid Inc. first made its name with anthrax-detection tests to guard the nation's post offices from bioterrorism attacks back in 2001.
- Jan 14, 2007 - Hospitals step up surveillance of scary "superbug" infections
Washington Hospital in Fremont is among the first Bay Area hospitals to take a technologyonce used to identify anthrax and employ it in the fight against thesuperbug that's killing more Americans than HIV/AIDS.
