Dr Till Bachmann is a member of Value Dx
University of Antwerp, bioMérieux, and Wellcome Trust to coordinate VALUE-Dx, a European Public-Private Partnership to fight antimicrobial resistance through diagnostics.
Antwerp (Belgium), London (UK), Marcy l’Etoile (France) – April 1, 2019 - The University of Antwerp, bioMérieux and Wellcome Trust today announced the launch of VALUE-Dx, the first Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project initiated by six in vitro diagnostic companies who join forces with 20 non-industry partners to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and improve patient outcomes. The purpose of VALUE-Dx is to transform medical practice to achieve more personalised, evidence-based antibiotic prescription and use in community care settings through the widespread use of clinical and cost-effective innovative diagnostic strategies. VALUE-Dx is co-funded by the European Commission (IMI), the Wellcome Trust and private companies, with a total budget of around 14 million euros over 4 years.
Diagnostics are deemed instrumental in guiding health care professionals in treating infectious diseases. However, in community care settings antibiotics are often overused and unnecessarily prescribed, accelerating AMR. VALUE-Dx is a European-wide approach to generate evidence on the medical, economic, and public health value of diagnostics in tackling AMR. It will focus on acute respiratory tract infections acquired in community care settings as they are the most frequent cause of medical consultation and inappropriate antibiotic use. The outcomes of VALUE-Dx could apply to other common infections such as urinary tract infections, blood stream infections, and hospital-acquired respiratory tract infections.
The Value-Dx project is an exciting and groundbreaking opportunity to address one of the greatest barriers to adoption of rapid diagnostics. It will shift the focus from the cost to the added value diagnostics provide in the fight against AMR. Specifically, the project targets rapid diagnostics of community acquired acute respiratory tract infections which are a main cause of antibiotic overuse in humans. Value-Dx brings together leading groups and stakeholders and I am absolutely delighted to be part of this fantastic consortium. This will further enhance University of Edinburgh's leading position in AMR diagnostics and strengthen the AMR Strategy of Edinburg Infectious Diseases.