“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats we face as a global community.”
- Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
The Problem: Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs as bacteria repeatedly exposed to certain types of antibiotics adapt and are no longer affected by them. This has led to the rise of new and deadly strains that require stronger, harder to produce, and more costly antibiotics. It is not an exaggeration to say that if left unchecked, AMR poses an enormous global threat to healthcare and wellbeing.
No new class of antibiotics has been discovered since the 1980s.
The cost and time investment to do so is significant, making work in this field a low priority for large pharmaceutical companies. This means that presently there is a very clear and alarming limit to how certain diseases can be treated. As super resistant strains become more common, the options for treatment greatly diminish and the side effects of exceptionally strong antibacterial medication become a bigger concern.
By 2050 over 10 Million people will die every year because of AMR.
The growing amount of previously treatable diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics is a pressing global concern. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people who will succumb to drug-resistant bacterial infections will surpass 10 million. In addition to the tremendous loss of life, economists predict a severe financial impact as the amount of effective antibiotics shrinks and their cost increases.
The 2016 O’Neill Report laid out a number of strategies to reduce the impact of AMR, chief among them being the development of rapid diagnostic tests to determine the cause of a disease and thereby reduce the vast amount of unnecessary and mis-prescribed antibiotics.
One major reason for the propagation of AMR is that while testing to determine if an infection is bacterial or viral is possible, the most commonly performed tests are expensive and slow. Physicians often feel pressured to overprescribe unnecessary antibacterial medications “just in case” but as a consequence the readily available and low-cost antibiotics become less effective for the overall patient population. This happens over time as the disease-causing bacteria adapt and resistant strains emerge.
“We are at a critical point in the fight to protect some of our most essential medicines.”
- Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization
The Solution: Antibiotics Management
By rapidly distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections in any healthcare setting, Sensoreal offers valuable and reliable information to healthcare professionals, allowing them to make the decision to withhold antibiotics from patients who do not need them, thereby limiting the spread of AMR.
We are developing a point-of-care test which simultaneously measures the levels of multiple biomarkers in a low volume blood sample. Combining the multiplexing capability of our technology with predictive analytics, Sensoreal can rapidly provide diagnostic results with high sensitivity, helping physicians decide on a treatment plan.
Innovative Solutions
Innovative Solutions Canada has issued a challenge, sponsoring companies in finding a tool to help address this global issue. We are proud to participate in this important health initiative. Sensoreal understands the tremendous impact of Antimicrobial Resistance and we are working hard to support diagnostic testing in this area and help decrease the unnecessary use of antibiotics.
"We have reached a critical point and must act now on a global scale to slow down antimicrobial resistance."
- Dame Sally Davies, former UK Chief Medical Officer