Following validation earlier this year, our work with SYNLAB UK & Ireland will now focus on integrating rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) into SYNLAB laboratory workflows, and on developing the evidence healthcare organisations and NHS decision-makers need to support adoption at scale.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a major threat to human health. In England alone, healthcare professionals see approximately 400 new reported case of antibiotic-resistant infections every week. Globally, 1 in 6 bacterial infections are now resistant to treatment, and this figure is rising.^[1]

Delivering a correct diagnosis quickly is crucial to beating antimicrobial resistance. iFAST’s technology delivers results in under three hours, a significant improvement on the usual turnaround time of 72 hours, and this speed enables fast, well informed treatment decisions at the point they matter most for patients.

The new partnership agreement between SYNLAB UK & Ireland and iFAST will build on our existing programme of shared research evaluation. The iFAST system research evaluation will continue with Southwest Pathology Services (SPS), while the iFAST ONE AST system will be rolled out for routine clinical use.