Innovation from Jena wins three awards

Jena, June 20, 2008 Yesterday, the SIRS-Lab GmbH and the Institute for Medical Microbilogy at the Jena University were jointly awarded with the IQ Innovation Award of central Germany. Additionally, the company and its partners received the Cluster Award “Biotechnology and Lifescience” and the regional Award of Jena.Organizer and host of the Awards is the "Wirtschaftsinitiative Mitteldeutschland" (Initiative for economy in central Germany). It especially recognizes innovations in growth industries. The jury underlined the social and economical relevance of the clinical diagnostic system "VYOO", for which SIRS-Lab received the award. VYOO identifies life-threatening infections as sepsis more efficiently.

"SIRS-Lab's innovation will be the starting point of a worldwide success story, because it really contributes to save the lives of countless of people." remarks Klaus Wurpts, CEO of the "Wirtschaftsinitiative Mitteldeutschland". The company applied together with the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the University Clinic Jena. The development of diagnostics with promising clinical and economical potential was only possible in the prosperous climate of the sepsis-cluster Jena. In the development of VYOO, the Medical Microbiology Institute was the key scientific partner whereas the clinical validation was performed at the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine in Jena.
SIRS-Lab's CEO PD Dr. Stefan Russwurm about the synergy of science and economy: "The award again shows the efficient performance of the regional sepsis cluster Jena and how the exchange between science and economy safeguards high-tech jobs in Thuringia."

With 2 Mio incidences in industrial nations alone and a mortality rate of up to 50%, sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of death in hospitals and a mostly unmatched diagnostic challenge, as Prof. Dr. Eberhard Straube from the University Jena notes: "Sepsis is one of the most underrated diseases of our time and at the same time one of the biggest diagnostic problems in medicine. New molecular diagnostic technologies are a quantum leap in a field, which made no remarkable progress in the last decades." The fast identification of the causative microorganisms is one important premise for a successful therapy. Current standard methods deliver results in only 15% of the cases and not before 48 hours, mostly too late for effective treatment. With VYOO, the pathogens can be precisely identified within the first hours after sepsis onset.

After the Thuringian Innovation Award in 2007, this is the SIRS-Lab's second award of this kind within a few months.