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BioMérieux 2010 Odyssey Tour Makes Stop in Hazelwood
Inside the BioMerieux 2010 Odyssey Tour trailer that recently made a stop in Hazelwood where the company is building a large facility..
Company Has Facility in Hazelwood
The bioMérieux 2010 Odyssey Tour rolled into town recently and made a stop at the company’s facility in the City of Hazelwood. Its purpose is to go across the country, including Canada, visiting tradeshows and regional events to promote S.M.A.R.T. (Solutions to Manage the Anti-microbial Resistance Threat) among industry professionals. Odyssey’s mission is to provide clinicians with innovative training and education on advanced diagnostic solutions.
The bioMérieux Odyssey is a mobile lab set up inside a 60-foot tractor trailer that brings lab automation and educational opportunities to industry professionals throughout North America. It was developed to show them how to optimize their labs using innovative systems which can dynamically improve result reporting, efficiencies and work flow. With the shortage of available clinicians coupled with additional demands on workload and the need to streamline operations, Odyssey delivers fully automated options and training for advanced diagnostic solutions that can improve public health.
In 2010, bioMérieux is using the Odyssey Tour to generate greater public awareness about the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant infections (ARIs) and their threat to keeping quality healthcare affordable for most Americans.
bioMérieux and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsored an unrestricted grant for the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) and Cook County (Stroger) Hospital to conduct a study on the economic impact of antibiotic overuse and antibiotic-resistent infections (ARIs). The authors of the study concluded that ARIs cost the U.S. healthcare system in excess of $20 billion dollars annually. Medical costs attributed to ARIs ranged from $18,588 to $29,069 per patient, while the duration of hospital stay was extended 6 to 12 days for the affected victims. Additionally, the excess mortality attributed to ARIs alone was 6.5 percent – a death rate twice as high as for patients without ARIs.
“Sustaining these kinds of costs is simply not tenable for individual families and for the economy at large,” said Dr. Robert A. Weinstein, interim chairman, Department of Medicine, Cook County (Stroger) Hospital,, and a senior author of the study.
“We’re fortunate to have a company based in Hazelwood that is on the frontlines of the international effort to combat the growing problem of multi-drug resistant organisms. These superbugs have become one of healthcare’s biggest concerns,” said David Cox, economic developer, City of Hazelwood.
Besides French-based bioMérieux, Hazelwood is home to a large commercial base with several manufacturing and retail corridors. Other international companies in Hazelwood are: Aesculap (Germany); GKN Aerospace (UK) and Matrix Packaging (Canada).
Cox goes on to say that additional land is available in Hazelwood for new construction unlike some areas in the St. Louis region, which are landlocked. To learn more about what Hazelwood has to offer can contact David Cox, Hazelwood economic development director, at (314) 513-5018 or via e-mail at dmcox@hazelwoodmo.org.
