We went from desktop to smartphone (with more computing power per device than what put a man on the moon in the 1960s) in just a matter of years so why would this not be possible?ĭevelopment of affordable, easy-to-use, and rapid point-of-care tests for common life-threatening bacterial infections would have a powerful multiplier effect. Imagine diagnostic tests for bacterial infections that are as accurate, robust and easy-to-use as what we have today for pregnancy or to diagnose HIV? That’s where we need to get to within a generation. Where do we need to be within a generation? AMR impacts communities without any respect for or interest in national borders. Granted, return on investment is leagues above many lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but, with 80% of the world population living in LMICs, developing tests primarily for wealthy countries is not an option. Investors and test developers continue to focus on the holy grail of developing diagnostics for the US and other high-paying OECD countries. There are also distortions to reckon with. We are probably not the only ones that are tired of hearing that “to be feasible, innovative tests must cost less than a course of antibiotics”. The AMR public health crisis necessitates that we challenge our limited idea of “value”. With resistance levels rising, there is a need to get new tests in the hands of healthcare professionals on the frontline of patient care as soon as is humanly possible. The technology is emerging, but will the products reach the market and be used in clinics and hospitals? We still see an urgent need to catalyse innovation and market entry. Implementation of these innovative tests happily threaten the current dipsticks with retirement. For example, today there are urinary tract infection (UTI) tests with pathogen ID and antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) results being delivered close to 30 minutes. The bar has risen significantly since 2014 and the technology is catching up to clinical need. In simple terms, they not only want to know whether a prescription is necessary, but what to prescribe and whether the patient could resolve the infection without antibiotics (ideally!). They want bacteria pathogen identification (ID), which antibiotic will be effective, and if possible, determine the severity of an infection. At the time, the dream was to incentivise rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests that would dramatically reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics by differentiating between viral and bacterial infections.īut today many clinicians are asking for more information to understand what they are dealing with and ensure they provide the best treatment plan for their patient. In 2014, The Longitude Prize set out to drive innovation to tackle global antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
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