3M Acquires Acolyte Biomedica to Expand Medical Diagnostics Platform Feb 15, 2007

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3M announced it has acquired Acolyte Biomedica Ltd., a Salisbury, U.K.-based provider of an automated microbial detection platform that aids in the rapid detection, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.

Early detection of dangerous microbes is becoming more important as multiple resistant bacteria strains become more prevalent. Acolyte Biomedica helps hospitals control high-risk infections through improved screening and targeted treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics and occurs most frequently in hospital patients who have weakened immune systems.

Acolyte Biomedica brings to 3M's infection prevention platform a pipeline of rapid culture-based screening tests for microbes, such as MRSA and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), that simplify the diagnostic process by automating traditional culture methodology resulting in reliable confirmed 'negatives' in hours rather than days. The addition of Acolyte Biomedica is intended to enable 3M to expand more quickly into the emerging market of infection prevention diagnostics, especially in Europe where Acolyte Biomedica has commercialized product for MRSA.

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