COPAN launches Radian™ new technology to fully automate Kirby-Bauer AST setup, plate incubation, imaging and interpretation

MURRIETA, Calif., Feb. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With a proven track record of innovation, COPAN Diagnostics, Inc. is excited to announce the launch Radian™, a new system for fully automatic Kirby-Bauer susceptibility testing. The solution comprises of automated seeding of Mueller Hinton plates, application of antibiotic discs, robotic incubation of plates, imaging, zone size interpretation, and result output using Expert software. Radian™ will be showcased at the COPAN booth, during ECCMID in Paris from Saturday April 18, 2020 to Tuesday, April 21, 2020. It will also be displayed at the 2020 ASM Microbe meeting in Chicago from Friday, June 19, 2020 to Sunday, June 21, 2020.

Little has change in the manual preparation of Kirby-Bauer Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (KB-AST) since its first description in 1959. In following decades, various automated breakpoint or MIC panel-based AST methods have largely taken the place of Kirby-Bauer for the majority of AST testing. Recently, there has been a great resurgence of interest in KB-AST in due to the possibility it offers for early AST reading times in 4, 6, or 8 hours, and the tremendous flexibility to add new drugs for extended susceptibility testing, especially with the emergence of more resistant strains of bacteria.

While KB-AST is a very attractive method for rapid and extend drug testing, it has suffered the drawback of being a completely manual set up, followed by a manual or standalone automated camera read and interpretation instrument. COPAN Radian™ is a breakthrough technological package, the first of its kind on the market offering a fully integrated and automated system for KB-AST starting from a McFarland suspension  including seeding of Muller Hinton plates, automatic application of AST discs from a selection of 50 drug possibilities, followed by the automatic incubation, imaging of plates at specified intervals (including early readings) and the expert interpretation of inhibition zones using EUCAST rules (eventually including CLSI rules) to derive sensitive, intermediate or resistant results.

Kirby-Bauer has always been a mainstay of laboratory methods and despite its low cost, the main drawback has been the manual setup, manual or semi-automated reading, which is not attractive in the current laboratory environment of a diminishing work force and skill set.

"COPAN's Radian™ system now allows laboratories to fully automate, digitally read and interpret seamlessly, integrating results into the L.I.S. like any other automated laboratory analyzer. COPAN's Radian™ technology also brings labor savings, standardization and improved turnaround time with early AST reading which together will drive improvements in quality of results and patient care," stated Norman Sharples, CEO of COPAN Diagnostics, Inc.

Like all COPAN automation solutions, Radian™ is designed to be modular and scalable. The system can be retrofitted into most existing WASPLab™ platforms. Radian™ is an open system that can be used with various qualified manufacturers Kirby-Bauer discs.             

About COPAN Diagnostics, Inc.
With a reputation for innovation, COPAN is the leading manufacturer of collection and transport systems in the world. COPAN's collaborative approach to innovation in pre-analytics has resulted in the original FLOQSwabs™, ESwab™, FecalSwab™ and UTM™, as well as Full Laboratory Automation. COPAN's collection and systems have been proven to advance the quality of traditional and contemporary microbiology assays. COPAN's automation includes specimen processing, smart incubation, digital imaging, and strong algorithms for automatic segregation of bacterial cultures, followed by automated colony picking. For more information, visit www.copanusa.com.

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SOURCE COPAN Diagnostics, Inc.