T2 Biosystems 1Q
May 6, 2021
2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that the cost of sepsis care for patients in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities was more than $62 billion. In addition, the patients who survive sepsis may face hospital readmission due to reoccurrence of sepsis, limb amputation due to complications of sepsis, and long-term physical and psychological affects due to post-sepsis syndrome.
As a sepsis survivor, I understand the impact our technology can have for patients, hospitals, and the broader healthcare system. Several years ago, following a life-saving heart transplant, I acquired several multidrug-resistant bacterial infections while in the hospital, and I was diagnosed with sepsis. I was treated with broad spectrum antibiotics and, after having suffered severe nerve damage in both legs, spent nearly a month in a rehabilitation hospital where I had to learn how to walk again. I was discharged from the hospital and, after spiking a temperature, I was immediately readmitted to finally receive the appropriate targeted antibiotic treatment. Had the T2Dx Instrument been present in my hospital, the pathogen that led to my sepsis diagnosis could have been identified in 3-5 hours.
I recently published a book about my personal experience to help raise awareness about sepsis, which I am using to shed light on why we must change the standard of care for patients at risk of sepsis. The book is titled “Courage: Powerful Lessons in Leadership, Strength, and the Will to Succeed” and I am donating 100% of the sales to Sepsis Alliance and Donate Life America, the nation’s leading organizations for sepsis and organ donation.
Our aim at T2 Biosystems is to change the standard of care by enabling targeted therapy, faster (i.e., within 3-5 hours of the first blood draw). This is critical as each hour of delayed, targeted treatment can increase patient mortality rates by up to eight percent. Our T2Dx Instrument combined with our sepsis tests, the T2Bacteria and T2Candida Panels, offer the first and only FDA-cleared products able to detect sepsis-causing pathogens directly from whole blood in only 3-5 hours, without the need to wait days for a positive blood culture.
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