AMR has been designated by the WHO as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.
Sysmex Astrego AB, a subsidiary of Sysmex Corporation, has been awarded the UK Longitude Award for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for its development of the PA-100 AST System, a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing technology to tackle the global threat of AMR.
The system has been awarded £8 million and could make a huge difference in antibiotic use by identifying the right treatment for urinary tract infections (UTIs) within 45 minutes.
Designated one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity by the World Health Organization, AMR occurs when bacteria, fungi and parasites change over time and adapt to antibiotics, and is responsible for around 5 million bacterial infection-related deaths per year.
First established by Challenge Works in 2014, the Longitude Prize aims to incentivize cost-effective, accurate, rapid and easy-to-use tests for bacterial infections to help healthcare professionals around the world administer the right antibiotic at the right time.
Based on technology from Uppsala University in Sweden, the PA-100 AST system detects bacterial infections within 15 minutes and identifies therapeutic antibiotics within an hour by simply placing 400 microliters of urine in a cartridge and placing it into the analyzer.
The standard procedure is for a doctor to send a urine sample to a lab, with results available within 24 hours, although turnaround time can be two to three days.
This award will help further accelerate the company’s efforts to expand the global market and application scope of the PA-100 AST system, which aims to revolutionize the traditional clinical workflow in infectious diseases.
Sally Davies, Longitude Award committee member and UK Special Envoy for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), commented: “We can no longer afford to prescribe antibiotics ‘just in case’.”
“The Longitude Award recipients are laying the foundation for a sea change in how these valuable medicines are managed, empowering healthcare professionals to make the best decisions for their patients with fast and appropriate diagnostic tests.”
