Adelaide-based medical technology company LBT Innovations (ASX:LBT) has been appointed by joint venture company Clever Culture Systems AG (CCS) as the distributor for APAS Independence in Australia and New Zealand.
Australia will be the first global launch country for APAS Independence. CCS have developed a due diligence process for the selection of global distributors and LBT was evaluated against this checklist and compared with alternate distribution options available.
APAS is an artificial intelligence technology for the automated imaging, image analysis, interpretation and reporting of growth on microbiology culture plates after incubation. The APAS independence is designed to improve the clinical efficiency of microbiology labs to enable faster diagnosis and reporting of infectious diseases.
According to LBT CEO and managing director, Brent Barnes, “Australia is an important strategic launch market for CCS and appointing LBT as its distributor makes sense for a number of reasons. Most importantly it will ensure we have timely and direct feedback from our customers, avoiding potential delays that may inadvertently occur when using a distribution partner. With clarity over distribution, we can immediately focus on securing reference laboratories that will independently trial APAS Independence, which we expect to commence in September 2017.”
LBT, as the initial developer of APAS, says it has existing software and engineering expertise in house and an ability to provide experienced market support.
The APAS Independence will be trialled in microbiology centres in the coming months as part of an ongoing strategy to develop a global network of reference laboratories.