Meridian Bioscience Inc. announced it has signed a new group purchasing agreement with Premier healthcare alliance to offer Illumigene C. difficile and Illumigene Group B Streptococcus to its members at specially negotiated pricing. Premier is a group purchasing organization (GPO) that serves upward of 2500 U.S. hospitals and 81,000-plus other healthcare sites. This new agreement allows facilities doing business with Premier to implement rapid, sensitive molecular tests for C. difficile and Group B Streptococcus without individual negotiations, the GPO said.

 The Illumigene molecular system uses loop-mediated isothermal DNA amplification (LAMP) technology. The test procedure is simple and highly sensitive, and it yields results in less than one hour. It requires no expensive capital equipment, Meridian said. The test relies on a simple procedure that includes heat treatment, amplification, and detection. The entire amplification is isothermal, and results are read on the Illumipro-10 instrument. All reagents and disposables are contained in the test kit and can be stored at room temperature.

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