Enigma Diagnostics and China’s ICDC announce collaboration to develop MDx infectious disease assays on Enigma ML system for use at point-of-care

Enigma Diagnostics Ltd, a global leader in molecular diagnostic point-of-care (PoC) infectious disease testing, today announced a collaboration agreement with China’s National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (“ICDC”). Under the terms of the agreement Enigma and ICDC will collaborate in the development of rapid and convenient molecular diagnostic technology for infectious disease pathogens utilising Enigma’s proprietary chemistries and the Enigma^® Mini Laboratory system (“Enigma ML”).

The Enigma ML’s highly accurate and multiplex assay reporting capabilities enables testing for the widest range of DNA and RNA disease targets with a fast turnaround time. The unique features of the system offer a hybrid laboratory and stand-alone diagnostic testing platform, designed to be of use in developed and emerging healthcare programmes. Easy to use, with on-board data handling and networking capability enabling multiple data sharing routes, the fully automated system requires simple training and has shown nil operator variance in recent trials. The Enigma ML provides a major advantage in laboratories or diverse testing locations where testing is undertaken by several different operators.

The Enigma ML provides countries with rapidly expanding healthcare systems the opportunity to build a diagnostic architecture which is cost-effective and patient-centric across multiple testing sites, unconstrained by traditional laboratory costs and limited physician availability. The data handling and routing capabilities allow physicians access to patient data securely and remotely, ensuring fast and accurate diagnosis with immediate and relevant treatment for patients.

John McKinley, Chairman of Enigma Diagnostics, said: “This is a milestone agreement for Enigma which recognises the unique benefits and relevance of the Enigma ML system for global point-of-care testing and strategic healthcare planning. The collaboration is a cornerstone achievement in our China strategy and our broader commercialisation programme and follows on from the European CE mark registration of the Enigma ML system in January this year.”

Mr. Lu, Deputy Director, ICDC Beijing, said: “In order to improve the prevention and control of infectious diseases, China has established a national network of laboratories for pathogentesting at state, provincial, city and county levels. Enigma’s ML system possesses multi-target testing capabilityand can concurrently report both types of pathogens and drug resistance. It is therefore of practical value in guiding clinical medication and formulating measures for infectious disease prevention and control. Use of this system is undemanding for laboratory facilities, the system operation is simple and it is easy to build laboratory and hospital data networks. The ML system will certainly play an important role in the rapid diagnosis, monitoring and pre-warning of our infectious disease programmes.”