Grant: Operating Grant: AMR: Point of Care Diagnostics in Human Health Phase 2

Antibiotics are a critical part of modern medicine. In addition to treating infections, they are necessary for many medical procedures including: joint replacement, organ transplant, and some types of cancer therapy. Unfortunately, bacteria are developing resistance to all of our antibiotics. If we do not stop this problem, Canadian life expectancy will eventually be 20 years shorter. This project will help preserve our antibiotics by eliminating one source of antibiotic resistance: slow diagnostic tests for urinary tract infections. Currently, it takes 2-4 days for labs to identify bacteria and find which drug will be most effective. Since waiting this long to treat infections poses a serious health risk, clinicians must prescribe drugs using their best guess as to which pathogen is causing an infection. This circumstance encourages the overuse of antibiotics-up to half of all antibiotic prescriptions have no benefit. Fortunately, we have found a promising solution. Our MicroUDxTM system can detect bacteria in urine and find the best antibiotic in under 4 hours. This is fast enough that clinicians can wait for laboratory test results to help guide their prescriptions. The best antibiotic therapy can then be called in to the patient's pharmacy the same day. This solution will significantly reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics and will extend the service life of our existing drugs. In addition, the MicroUDxTM will save thousands of people who are currently being given the wrong drug. These patients are at a much higher risk of developing urosepsis, a life-threatening condition that can occur if infections are not treated quickly. Thus, the MicroUDxTM is an exciting step forward because it fights antibiotic resistant organisms and prevents people from dying as a result of slow diagnostics. This grant provides the critical support for transitioning this diagnostic technology into the real world.