Amsterdam, the Netherlands, San Diego, CA, USA, and Holzgerlingen, Germany, February 6, 2020, 08:00 am CET - Curetis N.V. (the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, "Curetis"), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Quaphaco for Vietnam. Quaphaco, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, is a leading medical equipment supplier in Vietnam that is already working with numerous renowned global IVD manufacturers.
 
Under the agreement, Quaphaco has the exclusive right to commercialize Curetis’ Unyvero A50 instrument system and application cartridges for the diagnosis of severe infections in hospitalized patients in Vietnam. The agreement has a term of initially three years and can be extended by two-year increments. In return, Quaphaco has committed to significant minimum purchases of Unyvero instruments and application cartridges over the initial 3-year term of the agreement amounting to a total of about EUR 1.9 million revenue to Curetis. Quaphaco is responsible for product registration that is expected by Q2-2020 and has committed to significantly invest into the market introduction of the Unyvero product line in Vietnam.
 
With 88-97% of drug stores in Vietnam dispensing antibiotics without a prescription despite the fact that it is prohibited by Vietnamese law and despite antibiotics accounting for more than 50% of drugs used in human medicine, antimicrobial resistance is among the most severe threats to human health in Vietnam (Ref 1). Responding to this threat, Vietnam in 2013 became the first country in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Western Pacific Region to approve a national action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance (Ref 2).
 
“With at least one in ten patients suffering from healthcare-associated infections in Vietnam, we believe that a rapid and comprehensive detection of the pathogens and their antibiotic resistance markers with Unyvero will help to improve outcomes for patients with severe infections while supporting the antibiotic stewardship efforts that are high on the agenda of our public health institutions,” said Dr. Mai Van Phong, CEO of Quaphaco.
 
“We are very pleased to work with Quaphaco as a highly committed partner in making Unyvero available in Vietnam,” commented Oliver Schacht, PhD, CEO of Curetis. “This partnership strengthens our commercial presence in the ASEAN region and complements our commercial efforts with our partner Acumen Research Laboratories in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.”