Clinical performance of the GenMark Dx ePlex respiratory pathogen panels for upper and lower respiratory tract infections.

The GenMark Dx ePlex Respiratory Pathogen Panel (RP) is a multiplexed nucleic acid test for the qualitative detection of common viral and a few bacterial causes of respiratory tract infections. The ePlex RP has received FDA clearance for nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) specimens collected in viral transport media. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the ePlex RP panel in comparison to the NxTAG Respiratory Pathogen Panel (NxTAG-RPP) from Luminex in use in our laboratory, not only for NPS but also for bronchoalveolar lavage specimens (BAL). We also evaluated the impact of implementing the ePlex RP on the test turn-around time (TAT). The newest panel from GenMark Dx, the ePlex Respiratory Pathogen Panel 2 (RP2), which added the SARS-CoV-2 target to the RP was also evaluated for NPS. Verification of the performance of the ePlex RP for both NPS and BAL showed 93.3 % and 84.9 % total agreement with the NxTAG-RPP respectively. An overall comparison of the TAT after implementing the ePlex RP as compared to the NxTAG-RPP assay showed an average decrease of almost seven-fold.