Philips Electronics has been awarded a 1 Million euro prize for developing an easy to use test that can diagnose patients and tell whether or not they need antibiotics. The test is the result of a joint healthcare project between Philips Electronics and P&M Venge AB from Sweden. It has been developed under the name of Minicare NHL.
The Horizon Prize for Better Use of Antibiotics was handed over to the project developers at the University of Leuven by EU-commissionary for research, science and innovation Carlos Moedas.
The easy use of the test was key in the project Philips and its Swedish partner embarked on. The finger pricking test can judge whether or not it is safe to start treatment without the use of antibiotics. According to the awards organisation, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics is still a big challenge in healthcare.
“We are helping to bring this device to patients as quickly as possible, so that antibiotics are only used for bacterial infections and not for viral infections where they are ineffective or unnecessary. This helps to tackle the rise in antimicrobial resistance.”
The test should be available for patients by 2018.