Vivione Biosciences Inc. announced a new development relationship with Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories, Inc. ("KPL"). This relationship is expected to allow Vivione to accelerate commercialization of the detection kits used in Vivione's RAPID-B food-borne pathogen detection platform. The detection kits will be powered by KPL's well-characterized BacTrace(R) affinity-purified primary antibodies.

Vivione and KPL plan immediate initiation of manufacturing and commercialization of the detection kits, with the first commercial detection kit (E. coli O157:H7) already submitted for independent certification by the Association of Analytical Communities. Vivione's RAPID-B system combines flow cytometry with proprietary reagents (contained in detection kits which are designed to target a particular pathogen) and has the potential to provide food pathogen detection down to a single cell in as little as seven hours (including sample preparation) versus up to 48 hours for competing culture based methods. The resulting system offers much higher performance compared to other rapid diagnostic systems currently on the market.

Unlike culture-based methods, the RAPID-B system does not require isolation of bacteria and works with background interference from complex matrices like food. The RAPID-B system is easy to operate by lab personnel and does not require frequent calibration like most flow cytometer systems, making the RAPID-B system more capable of being used in real manufacturing environments. Bacteria detection, data collection, and analysis are seamless with results being provided after only 60 seconds in the system (which does not include sample preparation).