Curetis Group Company Ares Genetics Wins MERCUR Innovation Prize

• Prize awarded by the Vienna Economic Chamber to the most innovative companies in Vienna
• Ares Genetics´ awarded in the category Life Sciences for its AI-powered Universal Pathogenome Assay - ARESupa

Vienna, Austria, and Holzgerlingen, Germany, November 25, 2019, 10:00 am CET - Curetis N.V. (the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, "Curetis"), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that its fully-owned subsidiary Ares Genetics was awarded the 2019 MERCUR Innovation Prize by the Vienna Economic Chamber in the category Life Sciences.

The prize was awarded for Ares Genetics’ ARESupa – Universal Pathogenome Assay, a diagnostic tool for personalized antibiotic resistance diagnostics combining next-generation sequencing with artificial intelligence (AI).

Information on the antibiotic susceptibility of pathogens is of utmost importance for clinical practice, epidemiology and public health purposes as well as for the development of pharmaceutical products in the infectious disease sector. ARESupa accurately predicts antibiotic susceptibility via AI-powered interpretation of high-throughput DNA sequencing data of pathogens.

The MERCUR Innovation Prize is awarded every year by the Vienna Economic Chamber to highlight and support the innovation potential of Vienna’s enterprises. The prize awards product or process innovations characterized by high practical utility as well as economic impact in four categories, namely Creativity and Media/Consulting, Life Sciences, Green Economy, and ICT/Technology.

Ares Genetics’ R&D programs for the development of ARESupa are co-funded by non-dilutive public grants provided by the Vienna Business Agency, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), and other institutions with a total co-funded volume of up to more than EUR 3 million.

“The entire Ares Genetics team is extremely proud to be awarded this prestigious prize for its contribution to the fight against spreading antibiotic resistance, one of the most challenging threats to modern healthcare globally,” commented Dr. Andreas Posch, Managing Director and CEO of Ares Genetics. ”We would not have been able to pursue our innovative approach to infectious disease diagnostics so successfully without the help of our many supporters at the Vienna Economic Chamber, the Vienna Business Agency, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, Life Science Austria, and the Vienna Biocenter, just to name a few. Thank you all!”         

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About ARESupa Universal Pathogenome Assay

Information on antibiotic susceptibility of pathogens is of utmost importance for clinical practice, epidemiology and public health purposes as well as for the development of pharmaceutical products in the infectious disease sector. Ares Genetics therefore has developed a molecular Antibiotic Susceptibility Test (AST) that is marketed under the brand name ARESupa – Universal Pathogenome Assay and is capable of accurately identifying microbial pathogens as well as predicting antibiotic susceptibility via artificial intelligence-powered interpretation of high-throughput DNA sequencing data obtained by next-generation sequencing technologies. 

ARESupa is based on whole-genome sequencing of bacterial strains isolated from clinical specimens, combined with data analysis and interpretation powered by ARESdb, Ares Genetics’ unique, proprietary reference database on genetic antimicrobial resistance markers. ARESdb covers genomes of about 40,000 bacterial strains and associated susceptibility data for more than 100 different antibiotics.

ARESupa already today performs in line with FDA requirements for over 50 drug/pathogen combinations with prediction algorithms for further drug/pathogen combinations in development. 

The test is initially offered for non-diagnostic applications in epidemiology, infection control, and outbreak analysis for customers in the public health sector and the pharmaceutical industry. A laboratory-developed test (LDT) on native patient samples for human diagnostic use in indications in which current culture-based diagnostic practice is inherently challenging is planned. Furthermore, Ares Genetics has recently entered into a multi-phase strategic partnership with an undisclosed leading global in vitro diagnostics corporation to jointly develop diagnostic solutions for infectious disease testing based on the ARESupa.

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Ares Genetics GmbH

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About Curetis and Ares Genetics

Curetis N.V.’s (Euronext: CURE) goal is to become a leading provider of innovative solutions for molecular microbiology diagnostics designed to address the global challenge of detecting severe infectious diseases and identifying antibiotic resistances in hospitalized patients.

Curetis’ Unyvero System is a versatile, fast and highly automated molecular diagnostic platform for easy-to-use, cartridge-based solutions for the comprehensive and rapid detection of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance markers in a range of severe infectious disease indications. Results are available within hours, a process that can take days or even weeks if performed with standard diagnostic procedures, thereby facilitating improved patient outcomes, stringent antibiotic stewardship and health-economic benefits. Unyvero in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products are marketed in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the U.S.

Curetis’ wholly owned subsidiary Ares Genetics GmbH is developing next-generation solutions for infectious disease diagnostics and therapeutics. The ARES Technology Platform combines the presumably most comprehensive database worldwide on the genetics of antimicrobial resistances, ARESdb, with advanced bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.

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