Superfast real-time PCR solutions for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) stewardship sector - Medical / Health Care
What is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)? Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of microbes to resist the effects of drugs – that is, the germs are not killed, and their growth is not stopped. Although some people are at greater risk than others, no one can completely avoid the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections. Infections with resistant organisms are difficult to treat, requiring costly and sometimes toxic alternatives.
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The Problem: Current Practice for Antibiotics Prescription in Clinic
Our Solution: Onsite technology enables AMR screening in 10 minutes which allow “on the spot diagnosis” so that the correct Antibiotic(s) can be prescribed to patient correctly every visit.
How does AMR develop?
The use of antibiotics/antiviral is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic/antiviral resistance around the world, simply using antibiotics/antiviral creates resistance.
Hence these drugs should only be used to manage infections
- By 2050, AMR could lead to
- 10 million deaths every year
- Reduction of 2%-3.5% in GDP globally
- Between now and 2050, the world can expect to lose US$ 100 trillion worth of economic output
Source: Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, Dr. Marc Sprenger, Director Antimicrobial Resistance Secretariat, WHO, What is the cost of not taking action?
Attention on AMR
United Nations (Oct, 2016): In addition, they highlighted market failures and called for new incentives for investment in research and development of new, effective and affordable medicines, rapid diagnostic tests, and other important therapies to replace those that are losing their power.
USA Initiative(2015): Advance Development and Use of Rapid and Innovative Diagnostic Tests for Identification and Characterization of Resistant Bacteria.
UK (2020): Investing in the development of rapid diagnostic tests as part of the £1bn Ross Fund announced last year to ensure people get given the right drugs for the right bugs at the right time. The new tests, once proven to be effective will available in both the UK and internationally.
Chinese Government Decree (Aug, 2016): National Action Plan to Stop Bacterial Drug Resistance (2016-2020): By 2020, (1) Strive for R&D and Marketing of New Antibacterial Drugs, as well as new diagnostic instruments and reagents; (2) Support the development of diagnostic equipment for drug-resistant bacterial infections.
Our Solution: Star Array Pte Ltd's technology enables AMR screening in 10 minutes which allow “on the spot diagnosis” so that the correct Antibiotic(s) can be prescribed to patient correctly every visit.
Sepsis Alert
The Problem:
- Sepsis affects over 26 million people worldwide each year whereby 1/3 will die
- It is the largest killer of children and newborn infants in the world
- Sepsis is increasing at an annual rate of 8- 13%
- Effective treatments are accessible but require fast identification of sepsis-causing agent(s)
- Require coordination and attention to system issues
Our Solution: Star Array Pte Ltd's technology enables identification of sepsis-causing agent in 10 minutes which allow “on the spot diagnosis” so that the correct Antibiotic(s) can be prescribed to patient within the 'golden hour'.
Emergency Room
The Problem
Currently, patients are expected to wait for hours in the emergency room for their diagnosis results prior to treatment. The delayed treatment will not only prolong patients' sufferings but will also negatively impact their survival rate.
Our Solution: Star Array Pte Ltd's technology allows a complex genetic testing to be completed in 10 minutes instead of hours. This will significantly reduce the waiting time for patients and thus improve user experience and survival rate for patients.
Primary Care and Point of Care Testing
The Problem
Primary care providers commonly act as the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients within a healthcare system. However, as primary care providers are mainly from clinics or health posts, it is difficult for them to house sophisticated diagnostic equipment or be armed with the necessary skills required to operate said equipment. Hence it is usual for primary care providers to outsource lab tests to a central laboratory that may take a few days to generate the required results and deliver them to primary care providers. This means that patients will have to re-visit the primary care providers, wasting precious treatment time, on top of being an inconvenience.
Our Solution: Star Array's technology is capable of completing a complex genetic test in 10 minutes, which not only allows diagnosis to be done on the same visit. In addition, its simplicity and automated design further allows complex genetic testing to be conducted by nurses or administrative assistants in primary care facility - something only skilled technicians were exclusively capable of in the past. The effective use of a sophisticated genetic testing machine in a primary care facility has now become a reality.