PhenUtest: Rapid diagnostic kit for antimicrobial susceptibility detection in Urinary tract infections (UTIs)

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Every year, over 100 million people are diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). 1 in 2 women encounters it at some point in their life, making it a major problem worldwide. UTIs are the main reason for 22.7% of the UK's community antibiotic prescriptions (source: NHS England). Mis-prescribing of antibiotics, especially in urinary tract infections, leads to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Annually, more than 50,000 people die from antimicrobial-resistant infections in Europe and the US. By 2050, AMR is estimated to cost the global economy $100 trillion (O'Neill '14). In the UK alone, hospital-acquired UTIs amount to a cost of over £400M/year (Source: Unplanned Admissions Consensus Committee -- 2016 Updated Guide).The current UTI testing procedure involves the samples being sent to a centralized pathological lab, and it takes some 48-72 hours for the results to come back. The results include a description of the specific antibiotics that the patient should be prescribed. You as a patient, initially receive the first line of antibiotics, which is often wrong. As highlighted by NHS England in the Horizon report (Horizon Scan Report 0045, 2016) there is a serious lack of reliable, fast and cheap UTI diagnostic tests.PhenUtest brings a state-of-art technology, enabling a 30-minute (sample to diagnosis) antimicrobial susceptibility test for UTI-suspected samples which ensures that the patient gets the correct antibiotic at their first GP visit. These tests will be performed in a benchtop instrument in a primary care setting. This instrument will be highly precise, fast, cheap and easy to operate. This will reduce the risk of hospital admissions due to wrong antibiotic prescriptions.Our technology will provide an in-house rapid, accurate and cost-effective way to diagnose UTIs in the first GP visit. This will not only save health services like the NHS millions of pounds but will also reduce the growth of antibiotic resistance.