Israeli in vitro diagnostic company MeMed receives US$9.2 million in funding to control antibiotic abuse with pathogen identification tools
Release date: 2017-05-04
But antibiotics are still a double-edged sword, because some bacteria are not killed during the action. If the antibiotics are used in large quantities for a long time, the bacteria will become resistant, and the infected person cannot find a suitable antibacterial drug for treatment, resulting in a drug-free situation.
From 1929, the British bacteriologist Fleming discovered penicillin, which is now widely used clinically. The emergence of antibiotics has helped humans solve many problems, but at the same time, antibiotic abuse has also been staged globally. In 2016, a report by the UK government and the International Trust Fund showed that the global damage caused by the abuse of antibiotics is expected to reach 100 trillion in 2050.
Control antibiotic abuse, first find the "root of disease"
Memed co-founder and CEO Eran Eden compared the image of the immune response to a war in the body: "To know yourself and know how to fight.", that is, to check the type of pathogen of the infection, in order to rationally choose medication or treatment, avoid Excessive use of antibiotics.
At present, there are many methods for detecting pathogens, such as direct microscopy, latex agglutination, PCR identification, and sequencing. The most popular is the culture method: it is identified by culturing pathogens. But the technology has a number of flaws: the detection process is too slow, and not all pathogens are so easy to obtain (such as the eardrum ear infection). These factors make this technology unable to provide effective information to clinicians in the long-term and effective, and also show the limitations of future application scenarios.
It is quick and easy to get a virus (such as a rhinovirus) in a timely manner, but what is the significance of this? Who will always infect the same virus for the rest of his life? "And, simple tests don't clarify the causal relationship between disease and pathogens, so it can sometimes be misdiagnosed," Eden said.
Inspired by cancer immunity, MeMed's protein detection technology
Based on years of research in cancer immunotherapy, Eden and MeMed co-founder and CTO Kfir Oved hope to find pathogens in the immune response through reverse research. "The end result shows that you can get better results by just finding the right method," Eden said.
By detecting soluble proteins, the technique allows for the detection of biological properties in minutes without the need for "long waits" like the incubation method. In addition, the greater advantage of this technology is that the human immune system is ubiquitous, and there is no way to extract the pathogen cells from the infected site in time, and it can also be detected by soluble proteins.
Memed uses a combination of three proteins with pathogens – TRAIL, IP-10 and C-reactive protein. This technology has been confirmed in large studies. But this technology is not perfect. The drawback of this technology is that it is not very adaptable. In addition, although the speed and ease of detection of this technology are improved compared to the culture method. However, a test takes an hour and requires professional technicians to operate. For the emergency room, such technology is not ideal.
As a result, the Memed team is developing a next-generation platform that promises an easier and faster detection solution. They hope that DTRA's funds can speed up their development.
“The establishment of Memed is about concentrating on the integration of the testing process into a small instrument. A drop of blood can effectively identify pathogens in a matter of minutes.†Eden said: “Providing effective information for doctors will provide control over antibiotic abuse. Strong help."
It is understood that the next generation of the ImmunoXpert platform still uses the same algorithm as the previous three-protein detection technology. But the difference is that this is a plug-and-play platform, the entire detection process can be controlled within 15 minutes.
Source: Arterial Network
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