Gentian Diagnostics ASA announced the results from a study on health economic impact of use of GCAL Calprotectin Immunoassay for early detection of infection in intensive care patients. The study has been presented at the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM) meeting in Brussels which is currently ongoing. A health economic model has been developed, based on the results from a previous study showing the ability of calprotectin to detect bacterial infections before onset of clinical symptoms and antibiotic prescription1.

The model was employed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of analysis of calprotectin for early detection of bacterial infection and thus, the earlier start of antibiotic treatment compared to other diagnostic biomarkers. The base-case results show that predictively measuring of calprotectin in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting, using the GCAL Calprotectin assay, reduces total costs by approximately 13,000 - 18,000 per patient, overall mortality rate by 0.11, and mean length of stay in an ICU and general ward by 1.3 - 2 days and 6.9 - 8 days, respectively. Compared to procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell count (WBC), calprotectin, analysed by the GCAL Calprotectin immunoassay, was shown to save total costs, reduce the mean duration of in-patient care, and reduce in-hospital mortality in those patients.

Although the study focuses on a health economic perspective, the main rationale of analysis of calprotectin is from a clinical perspective, since early diagnosis of severe infections and sepsis reduces both delays in treatment and mortality. From this aspect, data from the health economic model support previous studies, where early detection of severe infections and sepsIS has both cost-saving and life-saving impact in the ICU setting.