Development of a novel, rapid method for antimicrobial susceptibility testing in a hospital setting

"Prescribing the correct antimicrobial drug at an appropriate dosage at the right time leads to better patient outcomes and slows the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The current clinical diagnostic techniques are too slow to allow this information to guide initial therapy. In sepsis cases, every 1 hour delay in initiating effective therapy increases mortality by 6-7%. This combination of slow detection systems and clinical urgency therefore means that most suspected infections are treated empirically with broad-spectrum antibiotics, with potentially poor patient outcomes and negative consequences on antimicrobial resistance.

There exists a clear market need for a technology which can provide an antimicrobial susceptibility test for infection-causing bacteria within the timeframe of the initial patient evaluation both in primary and secondary care.

We have developed a rapid susceptibility test that does not require the time-consuming culturing of bacteria and is therefore much faster than standard susceptibility tests. Our preliminary studies have confirmed the ability to perform an antimicrobial susceptibility test within 20 minutes. If these results can be confirmed on a wider range of bacterial pathogens and a greater number of antimicrobial agents in a laboratory setting we will have uncovered a new tool to combat the spread of AMR."