NEW YORK – Becton Dickinson announced on Thursday a $6 million contract with Fleming Fund to provide products to combat antimicrobial resistance in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
As part of the deal, BD will supply several of its diagnostic and informatics platforms to aid in diagnosing infections and help physicians appropriately prescribe antimicrobials. More than 70 labs will be equipped with solutions including the BD Bactec FX40 Blood Culture System for the rapid detection of bacteria and fungi in clinical specimens and the BD Phoenix M50 Automated Microbiology System for the rapid identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of clinically significant bacteria.
BD will also supply the BD Bruker MALDI Biotyper System for the rapid identification of microorganisms, and it will provide the BD EpiCenter Microbiology Data Management Systems and the BD Synapsys Microbiology Informatics Solution.
Fleming Fund is a UK aid program that helps low- and middle-income countries confront antimicrobial resistance. It is managed by the UK Department of Health and Social Care, in partnership with Mott MacDonald, the Fleming Fund grant management agent.
In a statement, Dave Hickey, worldwide president of BD Life Sciences-Integrated Diagnostic Solutions, said that the company is providing solutions to 19 low-resource countries as part of the deal to help detect drug-resistant bacterial infections and improve lab practices.