Why innovation in point-of-care diagnostics is needed
The Longitude Prize on AMR called on teams of innovators around the world to invent an affordable, accurate, rapid and easy-to-use test for bacterial infections to allow health professionals to administer the right antibiotic at the right time.
Without accurate, rapid diagnostic tests and best practice in antibiotic stewardship, the efficacy of new antimicrobial medicines and treatments will be undermined in the long-term, while current stocks of antibiotics will be compromised in the short-term.
The £8 million prize was won in 2024 by the PA-100 AST System by Sysmex Astrego. The test will transform the treatment of urinary tract infections (UTI) and brings the power of laboratory testing into a doctor’s office.
Using a 400 microlitre sample of urine on a smartphone-sized cartridge, the test can identify the presence of a bacterial infection in just 15 minutes and accurately identify the right antibiotic to treat it within 45 minutes.
The Longitude Prize on AMR is designed and delivered by Challenge Works – part of Nesta. For more than a decade, Challenge Works has run multiple challenge prizes, distributed millions in funding and engaged with thousands of innovators across prizes tackling major health challenges, frontier technology, global sustainability and social impact.
Challenge Prizes offer a large reward to incentivise the development of breakthrough innovations to tackle challenges where solutions have not been forthcoming. As an open innovation competition, it levels the playing field for disruptive start-ups and new entrants who are often overlooked by traditional grant funding – attracting new talent and new ideas to solve a problem.
The Longitude Prize has been supported by a committee of experts from across the scientific, clinical and industrial world, with the Longitude Prize Committee and Advisory Panel judging and deciding the winner. It was supported by BIRAC in India. Other supporters of the Prize since 2014 include: GSK, BBC, Amazon, M&C and Science Museum.
In 2014, Challenge Works initiated a competition for the UK public to decide the focus of a new Longitude Prize. Working with hundreds of scientists, academics and others, the following issues were identified:
The choice of challenges was presented on Horizon and the One Show on the BBC in 2014. The public was asked to vote for a challenge that the prize should help solve. A large number of votes were cast, with antibiotics coming out on top.
Formally welcomed by then Prime Minister David Cameron, since the initial vote, Challenge Works has gone on to launch, or support the launch, of prizes aligned with all of the original themes, including the Longitude Prize on Dementia, the Mobility Unlimited Challenge and the Water Breakthrough Challenges for Ofwat’s Innovation Fund.
Congratulations to the winners of the Longitude Prize on AMR, Sysmex Astrego!
