ETEST® Imipenem/Relebactam (IPR)*

Optimizing antibiotic therapy in the face of growing resistance threat

Multi-drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO), particularly in Gram-negative bacteria, is a serious and growing healthcare threat. Ensuring that patients get the right antimicrobial, in the right dose, at the right time is at the heart of antimicrobial stewardship. This helps improve patient outcomes, prevent the development of resistance and preserve the effectiveness of new therapeutic molecules. Vigilant and accurate antimicrobial susceptibility testing is a critical part of fighting resistance.

ETEST^® IPR strips offer an easy and reliable method to determine, with exact MIC values, infectious organisms’ susceptibility to imipenem and relebactam, to help ensure optimal treatment and follow-up with these antibiotics.

When therapy options are limited, clinicians may turn to a new-generation antibiotic based on an association of imipenem and relebactam, which is marketed as RECARBRIO™ **. It is indicated for the treatment of patients 18 years of age and older with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI) including pyelonephritis and for complicated intra-abdominal infections.

Exact MIC with ETEST^® IPR

ETEST^® IPR strips are easy-to-use but they provide a wealth of information. ETEST^® generates Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values from a continuous scale and can give results in between conventional two-fold dilutions, i.e. half dilutions. This means that, unlike diffusion methods, they can provide the exact MIC breakpoint as well as the interpretive category (S, I, R) (FDA breakpoints) or (S, R) (EUCAST breakpoints). Not only do you know if an organism is susceptible, you know with great precision how susceptible – information that can help best adapt antibiotic therapy to fight the infection while reducing the risk of development of drug-resistant bacteria. Having precise MIC values also enables epidemiological tracking of evolution of infectious organisms, to detect emergence of resistance over time.

The thin, inert and non-porous plastic ETEST^® IPR strips have the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) reading scale in μg/mL on one side and a predefined antibiotic gradient on the other. After applying a strip to an inoculated agar surface, the antibiotic gradient transfers into the agar and will form a stable, continuous and exponential gradient of antibiotic concentration. Bacteria grow under the strip, forming an ellipse. With as little as 16 hours incubation, you can read the MIC value on the scale, with complete inhibition seen where the pointed end of the ellipse intersects the strip. It’s that simple.

Part of the ETEST^® range

The new ETEST^® IPR strips join the family of ETEST^®, the original gradient strips. ETEST^® strips are widely documented for their effectiveness and precision. With an extensive range of over 90 antimicrobial references available, ETEST^® offers precision in testing the on-scale MIC for antibiotics, antifungals, as well as for antimicrobial resistance detection (ARD).

* CE-IVD marked; FDA cleared
** MERCK

ETEST^® Imipenem/Relebactam (IPR)

CONTENT OF THE KIT

REF 420925 
Single Pack: 30 test strips

Each strip contains:

• Imipenem MIC range: 0,002 – 32 μg/mL
• Relebactam : 4 μg/mL
• 1 Package Insert downloadable from www.biomerieux.com/techlib.

MATERIALS REQUIRED BUT NOT PROVIDED

• General microbiology laboratory equipment.
• Swabs (sterile, non-toxic and not too tightly spun) and test tubes.
• Sterile saline (0.85% NaCl).
• Rota-plater: Retro C80™ (optional) (Ref. 559803).
• Manual applicator [e.g., Mini Grip-It (bioMérieux Ref. 411200), forceps or similar device] or ETEST^® instruments, Nema C88™ (bioMérieux Ref. 559804).
• 0.5 McFarland turbidity standard (Ref. 70 900) or equivalent.
• Incubator (35 ± 2 °C).
• Quality control organisms.

RECOMMENDED CULTURE MEDIA

Use well-defined and high-quality Mueller Hinton medium that supports good growth. The brand chosen should have good batch-to-batch reproducibility to ensure that accurate and reliable MIC values are obtained.

To check the quality of media, test appropriate quality control strains. Please refer to the Package Insert provided by the media manufacturer. Ensure that the agar plate has a depth of 4.0 ± 0.5 mm and pH 7.3 ± 0.1.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

• For in vitro diagnostic use only.
• For professional use only. This test is intended for use by trained laboratory professionals.
• Use aseptic procedures at all times when handling bacterial specimens and established precautions against microbiological hazards must be strictly adhered to.
• Dispose of used agar plates following procedures for infectious or potentially infectious products.
• The test device is a disposable; it should not be reused.