Akonni's platform delivers accurate, multiplexed analysis in a low-cost format, offering a valuable solution for healthcare applications such as disease prediction and prevention, early diagnosis, identification of drug resistance, and treatment monitoring.
SANTA CLARA, California, Aug. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of microarrays in molecular diagnostics (MDx), Frost & Sullivan recognizes Akonni Biosystems, Inc. with the 2017 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. Akonni's integrated MDx system, TruDiagnosis®, is revolutionizing the point-of-care molecular testing market by enabling target detection from a variety of sample types. TruDiagnosis® is powered by TruArray®, a patented 3D gel-drop microarray technology for sample screening that instantly indicates the presence of disease markers in real time. Frost & Sullivan believes that Akonni is properly positioned to serve the precision medicine revolution.
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"TruDiagnosis® offers rapid, reliable multiplexed analysis at a lower overall cost per array," reports Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Sanchari Chatterjee Maity. "The company modified this platform by replacing the traditional glass substrate with a cost-effective plastic film substrate for printing arrays without requiring functionalized coatings. Akonni also enhanced the manufacturing process for reel-to-reel manufacturing of arrays on film to generate greater cost efficiencies."
TruDiagnosis® consists of Akonni's proprietary TruDx® Imagers, TruArray® Assays, and TruTip® sample prep kits and includes nucleic acid extraction as well as fully-automated gridding and data analysis software for patient reporting. The platform serves a range of applications such as pharmacogenomics, chronic human diseases (cancer), infectious diseases, extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis, upper respiratory infections, viral encephalitis, and hospital-acquired infections.
At the heart of the platform is the TruArray® 3D gel-drop technology, which delivers efficient immobilization capacity due to the innovative spacing design of the immobilized molecules throughout the volume of the gel drop. This design boasts high hybridization efficiency, which helps achieve specific hybridization to obtain incredibly accurate data. The low-density microarrays can carry between 5 and 400 3D gel-drops per array.
TruDiagnosis® has garnered considerable praise for its easy mode of operation and accurate results. The testing procedure involves dropping a few microliters of the DNA sample onto a microfluidic test slide the size of a stick of chewing gum. The sample then flows over an array of the 3D gel-drops with probes that test for the targets of interest; for example, Akonni's multi-drug resistant mycobacterium TB (MDR-TB) test includes six tuberculosis (TB) genes and 88 strain-specific mutations. Akonni facilitates workflows by combining conventional target amplification, fragmentation, and labeling processes into a single microfluidic chamber. Additionally, the integrated, self-contained design of the microfluidic device alleviates the risk of amplicon contamination following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Once the assay is finished, the test is inserted in the TruDx reader, which detects and indicates a genetic match. This operational method takes significantly less computation time than other diagnostic microarrays.
Pre-clinical studies demonstrate the superiority of TruDiagnosis' clinical viability over traditional multiplexed platforms. "Akonni has won several projects from leading private as well as government entities in North America and Asia-Pacific due to the versatility of its diagnostic products," noted Chatterjee Maity. "Overall, it enjoys a solid market presence and is well positioned for higher growth due to its effective products, customer-friendly approach, strategic execution of business prospects, and cost effectiveness."
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that develops an innovative product element by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it affords customers, which, in turn, raises customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
About Akonni Biosystems, Inc.
Akonni Biosystems was founded in 2003 and has been issued 21 US and 36 International patents primarily covering sample preparation, microfluidic devices, bioinstrumentation, and integrated systems. Product development has been supported by a series of government grants and contracts from NIH, CDC, DOE, DOD, NIJ, and NSF. The company significantly advanced the original technology by improving the system's capabilities from sample preparation to test result. Commercial products in Akonni's near-term pipeline include rapid sample preparation technologies for nucleic acid extraction and multiplex panel assays for detecting clinically relevant genotypes for pharmacogenomics, human chronic diseases, and genotypes for infectious diseases such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), upper respiratory infections, viral encephalitis, and hospital-acquired infections (MRSA).
About Frost & Sullivan
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Contact:
Ana Arriaga
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E: ana.arriaga@frost.com
