On The Frontline of Battling Antibiotic Resistance: Thermo Fisher & The B.R.A.H.M.S PCT Blood Test

As an avid health enthusiast, I like to spend the little free time I have to peruse various new studies, or simply, just park myself on either the World Health Organization or Center for Disease Control and Prevention website to see what is happening in the world of health at the time, allowing my curiosity to lead me. It was this same habit that led me to realizing that this week (November 13th - 19th, 2017) is being recognized as World Antibiotic Awareness Week.

Antibiotics, to put it quite simply, are medicines that are tasked with ridding our bodies of bacterial infections. The troubling reality however, and a major reason why World Antibiotic Awareness Week needs to exist, is that we, as a global population, are seeing increasingly devastating rates of antibiotics becoming less effective. While you may commonly hear it being thrown around that humans are becoming more resistant to antibiotics, that’s not the complete story. Actually, the bacteria that are being targeted by antibiotics are what are increasingly becoming resistant to the powerful work of antibiotics. Largely due to the overuse and general misuse of antibiotics, bacteria become privy to how antibiotics work and genetically changing to put up their own fight. While antibiotic resistance is expected to happen naturally over time, misuse and overuse has been significantly accelerating the process.

Here are a couple of reasons why widespread antibiotic resistance should be something we all worry about:

• With new bacterial resistance emerging and spreading widely across the globe, our ability to treat even the most common infections is compromised. This means that common infections and minor injuries could one day be life-threatening.
• When the usual ‘frontline’ antibiotics are no longer potent enough to treat infections, this will lead to more expensive options of treatment.
• With antibiotic resistance, our duration of both illness and treatment will extend, typically within a hospital setting, creating an even greater burden on struggling individuals and families to cover their healthcare costs.

After a bit more digging, I discovered the work of Thermo Fisher Scientific, a multinational biotechnology company dedicated to transforming lives through the power of science. Recently, the company announced a FDA 510(K) clearance for an assay that utilizes procalcitonin (PCT) as a biomarker to assist with the management of antibiotic use in patients with sepsis and a number of lower respiratory tract conditions involving a bacterial cause of infection. Healthcare professionals will be able to use this assay as an integral tool to determine whether antibiotics are necessary for a particular patient, and if so, the right amount of time to continue treatment. PCT affords clinicians the opportunity to evaluate and manage antibiotics with greater precision than ever imagined. Instead of clinicians depending on a predefined time frame that may or may not work for each, unique patient, the PCT biomarker allows for the assessment of the initial severity of the bacterial infection, as well as evaluates the appropriate duration of treatment based on the patient’s response.

Ensuring that this test is incorporated as an integral part of every physician’s arsenal for the evaluation of infections, as well as the provision of initial and continuous education maximizes the possible benefits. It is estimated that as much as 30% of antibiotic prescriptions within the United States is unnecessary. The use of PCT as a biomarker, can provide clinicians with increased confidence to limit over-prescribing antibiotics or prescribing longer dosage durations “just to be sure”, contributing to the widespread cycle that perpetuates antibiotic resistance.

Sepsis is of great focus to Thermo Fisher, because of its unpredictability and the many challenges related to diagnosis and treatment, making it a leading cause of death in hospitals. Dr. Mike Broyles, Director of Pharmacy and Laboratory Services at Five Rivers Medical Center, an industry leader in the development of infection control programs in pharmacies and labs, describes the role that Thermo Fisher continues to play in the evolution of sepsis treatment:

“Thermo Fisher, specifically the B.R.A.H.M.S Biomarker business unit of Thermo Fisher, was the first company that introduced procalcitonin into the medical community to aid in sepsis and antibiotic decision making. They have partnered with top diagnostic companies to develop automated PCT testing that can be performed in routine laboratories across the world, and continue to be engaged in increasing sepsis awareness by providing education to hospitals and laboratories worldwide.”

Dr. Broyles goes on to implore clinicians to avoid unnecessary antibiotic prescription, as this could be the ultimate key to ensuring that treatment options are available and readily accessible in the future.

So, what can we do as ‘average’ members of the global population to play our part in combatting a future plagued by widespread antibiotic resistance? Here are four suggestions:

1. When you receive a diagnosis that your infection is non-bacterial, try to refrain from the thought that antibiotics are your holy grail to recovery.
2. Antibiotics have been a great help in many ways, but try to remember that they do also come with side effects. Some may even cause potentially serious forms of diarrhea. E Exposure to antibiotics changes the normal gut micro-organisms and may increase the potential for opportunistic infections, such as C-difficile which can result in serious and sometimes fatal illness.
3. When you are prescribed medicines for an infection, be careful to take the proper dosage at the prescribed times and for the suggested duration. Skipping doses could do you way more harm than good.
4. When you are prescribed antibiotics, do not, under any circumstances, share with family and friends. This is a key factor in accelerating the rise in antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic awareness is integral in ensuring a global population that has options to both prevent and treat infections. With the frightening rate that antibiotic resistance has been occurring, our longevity is severely put at risk. Both clinicians and the general public need to be mindful of avoiding misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Our lives depend on it.