Jack Phillips, the CEO of Roche Diagnostics, is leaving the company to become chief operating officer (COO) of Accelerate Diagnostics, an Arizona-based developer of IVD tests for infection.
Phillips has been CEO of the Roche division since 2010 and also played an instrumental role in the growth of Ventana Medical Systems, a company that was acquired by Roche in 2008, according to Accelerate Diagnostics.
Accelerate has developed the Accelerate Pheno system and Accelerate PhenoTest BC kit, which are designed to help clinicians reduce the time needed to determine the right antibiotic therapy for infections. The system and kit, which have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, automate the sample preparation steps required to report phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility results in about seven hours, direct from positive blood cultures.
Accelerate believes that the Pheno technologies can deliver results one to two days faster than existing methods, helping clinicians determine the correct antibiotic and dose for the patient's infection.
