Multicenter clinical performance and comparative evaluation of the LIAISON PLEX Respiratory <i>Flex</i> Assay for syndromic detection of viral and bacterial pathogens in nasopharyngeal swabs

Fast and accurate detection of respiratory pathogens helps guide treatment, lower healthcare costs, and support disease monitoring. The LIAISON PLEX Respiratory <i>Flex</i> Assay was evaluated for respiratory pathogen detection by comparing its performance to FDA-cleared molecular respiratory pathogen detection methods, PCR followed by bi-directional sequencing (PCR/BDS) for bacterial pathogens, and standard-of-care (SOC) molecular respiratory assays, including targeted and multiplex syndromic PCR panels. The study assessed its ability to identify pathogens associated with respiratory tract infections, measure agreement with SOC assays, and determine its accuracy in clinical settings. The findings provide data on the assay's diagnostic performance, testing flexibility, and applicability in laboratory workflows.