• Endothelial dysfunction is driving pathophysiological processes such as congestion in heart failure, shock in sepsis, and lung dysfunction in COVID-19
• Bioactive Adrenomedullin (bio-ADM®) is a proprietary biomarker for real-time assessment of endothelial function in acute and critical care settings.
• High blood levels of bio-ADM® have been shown to predict septic shock, to diagnose residual congestion in heart failure, and the need for organ support in critically ill patients, including COVID-19
• IB10 sphingotest® bio-ADM® runs on SphingoTec`s automated Nexus IB10 point-of-care platform and quantitatively measures levels of bio-ADM® directly in blood samples

Hennigsdorf/Berlin, Germany, July 22, 2020 – Diagnostics company SphingoTec GmbH (“SphingoTec”) today announced the launch of its IB10 sphingotest® bio-ADM®, a CE-IVD-marked point-of-care test to quantitatively determine blood levels of Bioactive Adrenomedullin (bio-ADM®). Blood levels of bio-ADM® reflect in real-time the functional status of the endothelium, the inner cell sheet of blood vessels. The test is made available on the company`s rapid point-of-care platform Nexus IB10 that uses whole blood samples without any pre-processing, requires less than three minutes hands-on-time, and delivers results after 20 minutes. Nexus IB10 can be flexibly deployed in laboratories or near-patient settings such as intensive care units (ICUs) and Emergency Departments (EDs).

In numerous studies on more than 22,000 patients admitted to ICUs and EDs, bio-ADM® has been shown to predict distortions of the inner cell sheet of blood vessels, the endothelium (1). Failure of the endothelial function has been demonstrated to precede edema and the life-threatening blood pressure drop that causes shock and multiorgan failure e.g. in patients with sepsis at ICUs and EDs (2-3). In heart failure patients, bio-ADM® blood-levels reliably and objectively reflect tissue congestion and residual congestion (4). Recent data show that elevated blood levels of this functional biomarker also identifies patients in the general ICU patient population who require immediate life-saving therapeutic interventions (5). In ICU patients with severe COVID-19, endothelial dysfunction has been identified to play a crucial role in the disease progression, thus providing a rationale to monitor bio-ADM® to guide the therapy stabilizing the endothelium (6).

Dr. Andreas Bergmann, CEO and founder of SphingoTec commented: “The endothelial function plays a key role in a large number of critical care conditions, such as sepsis, septic shock, acute heart failure, and COVID-19. A distortion in the endothelial function predicts the patient’s progression to a critical stage. Therefore, bio-ADM® screening can identify high-risk patients who require early life-saving therapeutic intervention. With the launch of this rapid test for bio-ADM® on our widely established Nexus IB10 immunoassay platform, we aim to support earlier treatment decisions and improve outcomes of acute care patients.”

The IB10 sphingotest® bio-ADM® assay is commercialized in Europe and other regions that accept CE-IVD certification through SphingoTec’s network of distribution partners for the Nexus IB10 platform, together with a broad menu of standard tests for acute and critical care.

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References:

(1) Geven (2018): Vascular Effects of Adrenomedullin and the anti-Adrenomedullin Antibody Adrecizumab in Sepsis. Shock. doi: 1097/SHK.0000000000001103

(2) Mebazaa (2018): Circulating adrenomedullin estimates survival and reversibility of organ failure in sepsis: the prospective observational multinational Adrenomedullin and Outcome in Sepsis and Septic Shock (AdrenOSS-1) study. doi:10.1186/s13054-018-2243-2

(3) Caironi (2017): Circulating biologically active adrenomedullin (bio-ADM) predicts hemodynamic support requirement and mortality During Sepsis. Chest. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2017.03.035.

(4) ter Maaten (2019): Bio-adrenomedullin as a marker of congestion in patients with new-onset and worsening heart failure, Eur J Heart Fail. doi:10.1002/ejhf.1437(5)

Lemasle (2020): Bioactive Adrenomedullin, Organ Support Therapies, and Survival in the Critically Ill: Results from the French and European Outcome Registry in ICU Study, Crit. Care. Med, doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000004044

(6) Varga (2020): Endothelial cell infection and endotheliitis in COVID-19, Lancet,

doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30937-5