Matching Respiratory Tests to Patients: Connie Savor, MD, MBA

Cepheid's newly FDA-cleared Xpert Respiratory Panel, which detects 13 common viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens from a single nasopharyngeal swab.¹

In this interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®), Connie Savor, MD, MBA, chief medical officer at Cepheid discussed the panel's targets and gives clinicians a broader option alongside the company's lower-plex tests as part of a diagnostic stewardship approach.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

AJMC: The panel detects 13 viral and bacterial pathogens from a single nasopharyngeal swab. Which pathogens are included, and how did Cepheid decide on those 13 rather than a larger syndromic panel?

Savor: The panel detects 13 viral and bacterial pathogens, as you suggest, including adenovirus, coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2—which causes COVID-19—and other viruses called human metapneumovirus, rhinovirus and enterovirus, human parainfluenza virus, influenza A and B, and RSV. These are all viruses that are very common causes of seasonal viral infections and can make people quite ill, so it's important to detect them. In addition, the panel also detects some key bacterial organisms, including Bordetella pertussis and parapertussis, as well as Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae. These are sometimes hard-to-diagnose bacterial infections, but they are also common causes of upper respiratory infection syndromes, and it's important to detect those because it can help direct antimicrobial therapy.

AJMC: What clinical performance data supported the FDA clearance, including sensitivity and specificity for each target, and how did the panel perform in the populations the release highlights: children, older adults, and immunocompromised patients?

Savor: All these studies were done on our GeneXpert system, and the panel was determined to deliver accurate, actionable results with minimal hands-on time for the diagnosis of respiratory infections. We made sure in these studies to include children, older adults, and immunocompromised individuals because they're at increased risk for complications from respiratory infections and may require hospitalization. So it's really important to have patients from those demographics in your studies.

Specific viral and bacterial coinfections are sometimes associated with increased disease severity and adverse outcomes, which reinforces the importance of distinguishing these underlying pathogens to help inform clinical assessment. So, all in all, the Xpert Respiratory Panel delivered very accurate, actionable results that are useful to clinicians.

AJMC: In the press release, you described this panel as designed for "high-acuity respiratory testing." What does that mean in practice? Which patients should get this panel instead of Cepheid's low- or mid-plex tests?

Savor: Thanks for that. The test is intended to aid in the diagnosis of individuals suspected of having a respiratory tract infection, with clinical signs and symptoms of respiratory tract infection, in conjunction with clinical decision-making—so, other clinical, epidemiologic, and laboratory findings. It's one piece of information that is offered to the clinician to make that final diagnosis.

What's nice about the Xpert Respiratory Panel is that it adds to a suite of tests that will allow the clinician to choose the most appropriate one, whether they need a targeted test to answer just one question—maybe just to diagnose flu—or something such as the Xpert Respiratory Panel that gives you those 13 common key causes of respiratory infection. So the clinician can select the right test for the right patient at the right time, and that really helps inform how they manage the patient, potentially prescribe antibiotics, and predict the outcomes in many situations.

The other piece that's really nice and really important for a clinician is to have the information at the point of care—at that time of care. Being able to give a result in less than 60 minutes can really support appropriate, immediate management in settings where you need to make quick decisions, like in a hospital ICU or a hospital emergency department.

AJMC: The panel detects both viral and bacterial pathogens. How should clinicians interpret a positive bacterial result, especially a possible co-infection, when deciding whether to start or stop antibiotics?

Savor: The performance of the Xpert Respiratory Panel is excellent in the clinical trials, so it adds information to the total clinical picture to help clinicians decide whether they should prescribe an antibacterial—an antibiotic—for the patient and then which antibiotic would be most appropriate for that particular infection. Of course, no test detects every possible infection, but this test was designed to detect some very key, common, and difficult-to-culture bacterial causes of respiratory infection.

AJMC: The release says the panel needs less than a minute of hands-on time. What is the total time to result, and how would running it on-demand on existing GeneXpert systems change workflow compared with batched syndromic testing?

Savor: The less than 1 minute of hands-on time is one of the things that I'm most proud of in our technology. That means your lab techs don't need to spend a lot of time doing prep or work in order to test the sample, which frees up the laboratory to focus on other things they need to do. They can load the sample into the cartridge and run it on the GeneXpert system, and within 60 minutes, they will have a result.

AJMC: Some payers have restricted coverage for large multiplex respiratory panels, particularly outside the hospital. How is Cepheid thinking about reimbursement, and what evidence will labs need to justify ordering this panel over targeted testing?

Savor: I can't speak to reimbursement specifically, but what I can tell you as a clinician is that when ordering these tests, it's important to be able to provide a clinical justification for the test. That's why it's really nice to have the option to order more focused panels, if that is the right clinical justification, or something broader. So if you've already done a more focused panel and the patient is ill and they need something broader, it's important to document that clinical justification. By and large, if those key elements are there for the payers, that is important toward maximizing the chances of reimbursement for these tests.

AJMC: The release frames the portfolio around diagnostic stewardship. What guidance will Cepheid give hospitals on building testing algorithms that match the right test to the right patient without driving up costs?

Savor: These testing algorithms can be really powerful to help guide your clinicians to the most appropriate testing strategy, whether it's a single test, a low-plex test such as Cepheid's 4-plex test on our GeneXpert, or a broader panel such as Cepheid's Xpert Respiratory Panel test. When designing algorithms, one can guide the clinician toward the most appropriate complexity of test, which then drives the most appropriate clinical management for what is needed for that patient. Again, the idea is to give the clinician the tools and the appropriate range of tests to best manage that patient, and that really is what diagnostic stewardship is about—the right test for the right patient at the right time.

References

1. Cepheid receives FDA clearance for Xpert Respiratory Panel to aid in the diagnosis of respiratory tract infection. News release. Cepheid. September 29, 2026. Accessed October 7, 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cepheid-receives-fda-clearance-for-xpert-respiratory-panel-to-aid-in-the-diagnosis-of-respiratory-tract-infection-302892056.html