LeukoDx LP announces the appointment of Dr Bruce Davis, MD as Chief Scientific Officer of LeukoDx.
The company is concurrently announcing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Dr Davis’ company, Trillium Diagnostics, for in-licensing a patent and technology pertaining to quantifying CD64 at the point of care on LeukoDx’s compact flow cytometry platform. These activities represent critical advancement for the development of LeukoDx’s technology and product line.
Dr Bruce Davis, MD is Founder and President of Trillium Diagnostics, a privately held company located in Bangor, Maine that develops diagnostic assays for clinical cytometry and laboratory hematology. He leads research and development of new diagnostic products in this area and in particular, developed and is working on establishing acceptance of a laboratory diagnostic assay for the detection of infection and sepsis.
Dr Davis has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, serves on the editorial boards for journals of cytometry and laboratory hematology, as Chairman of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and has provided consultation to a number of medical diagnostics companies. He earlier served as Director of Hematopathology at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and at US Labs. He received his BS in Biology from Cornell University in New York and his MD from University of Connecticut.
Dr Davis is an expert in hematology and flow cytometry for diagnostic use, and has spent nearly 15 years researching CD64, the first biomarker LeukoDx will integrate into its disposable test cartridge for sepsis diagnosis and monitoring. He is a leading scientist in his field and particularly with regards to the CD64 biomarker, for which Trillium Diagnostics has developed tests kits to perform the test on laboratory based hematology and flow cytometry instruments. The TrilliumDx test kits are CE marked and the FDA approval is pending.
Dr Davis’ specific experience with clinical diagnostics reagent development, clinical trials with CD64 reagent kits and the regulatory approval process will significantly accelerate the development LeukoDx’s first product as the company moves towards commercialization of its novel technology in the form of a point of care instrument and disposable test-specific cartridges.
Julien Meissonnier, President and CEO of LeukoDx, stated: "We are thrilled to have a world cytometry expert of Dr Davis’ caliber join our team. As LeukoDx works on developing its point of care flow cytometry platform, we have been convinced that sepsis is an application with unmet need where only point of care testing can provide the necessary decision making information to doctors in a timely fashion. We have also been convinced that CD64 is the right marker to implement this vision. We are delighted that not only Dr Davis shares our vision to develop a point of care test for CD64, but also that he chose to join our efforts to make this a reality."
Dr Davis stated: "The mature positioning of white blood cell CD64 measurement as a superior diagnostics for detection and monitoring of infection/sepsis in clinical medicine is the ability to perform testing at the point of patient care. Trillium Diagnostics has been observing the technologies in the point of care testing area for several years, waiting for the optimal technology and committed strategic partner.
"We believe LeukoDx is just that partner with innovative technology and a talented and dedicated development team. This strategic integration of Trillium Diagnostics and LeukoDx will provide a nearly seamless evolution of our CD64 based diagnostic products for infection/sepsis from high complexity multiparameter flow cytometry instruments to hematology platforms and now to a portable point of care device. This device with a simple to use, disposable CD64 testing cartridge should allow for rapid clinical decision in patient settings such as the neonatal intensive care units, critical care areas, emergency care areas, and remote clinics lacking access to diagnostic medical laboratories."
Source: LeukoDx