A SPIN-OUT company from the University of Reading is set to support efforts to tackle antibiotic resistance in healthcare through a new technology.
Astratus Limited, a healthcare technology company which was formed by a team of researchers at the university, has announced it is releasing a new platform to accelerate testing methods for antibiotic treatment.
The team has developed a new testing platform which tests bugs in patients to find the best course of anti-microbial treatment through a customisable rapid testing method.
The new platform is fully customisable and has an ultra-high throughput, providing rapid susceptibility testing with fully digitised results provided on the same day.
Antimicrobial resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, more than 20% of the antibiotic prescriptions issued to NHS patients are not effective against the bacteria causing an infection.
More than 25% of urine samples from patients with a suspected urinary tract infection contain bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Deaths attributed to antibiotic resistance are forecasted to reach a cumulative total of 39 million by 2050– equivalent to three deaths every minute.
Slow, manual testing methods are partly responsible for driving inappropriate prescriptions, and infections are becoming harder to treat due to rising antimicrobial resistance.
More than 5.2 million urine samples are tested in UK hospitals annually with 2.5 million bacterial samples also tested in UK veterinary laboratories.
However digitised same-day actionable results, direct-from-urine or from bacterial sample, are available five times faster using the Astratus platform than existing methods–under six hours compared to more than two to three days.
As well as providing a platform for clinical antimicrobial susceptibility testing, the technology could be used by researchers and companies developing new antimicrobials, investigating biofilms, or searching for novel therapies.
Dr Oliver Hancox, CEO and co-founder of Astratus, said: “Our vision is to improve global access to rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Faster, personalised antimicrobial prescribing will help reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance.
“We believe we can help patients to access the right treatment for their urinary tract infection faster.”
Dr Sarah Needs, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Astratus, said: “Our technology represents a significant advancement in antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
“By dramatically cutting testing times and automating a process that is currently done manually, we are reducing both time and labour burdens experienced by microbiology laboratories”.
