And winner is…
It was a case of so very near and yet so far for Llusern Scientific at the awards ceremony for the Longitude Prize on AMR held this week at the Science Museum in London.
More than 250 companies entered the competition which was set up 10 years ago to incentivise a new generation of innovators to develop urgently needed rapid, point of care diagnostic tests for AMR. The judging panel then closely monitored 40+ of the entries before narrowing down their search to a very small number of candidates that met their hugely demanding criteria.
Llusern understands that its entry for Lodestar UTI was highly commended and, alongside the eventual winners, were the only other entrant featured on the night.
Congratulations to Sysmex Astrego on capturing the £8m prize funded by Innovate UK, amongst others.
Treating unplanned hospital admissions for UTIs cost the NHS £386 million in 2017-18. As Tris Dyson, Managing Director of Challenge Works, who opened the evening’s proceedings, commented, “The Longitude Prize on AMR has done what it set out to do. But in order for novel, game-changing medical technologies to make a difference, they need to be successfully implemented and available in healthcare systems – including the NHS.”
Thanks to the judging panel for their words and encouragement throughout the process. Without doubt, if Llusern Scientific hadn’t entered the Prize it wouldn’t be where it is today.
Lodestar UTI is available exclusively in the UK from Sussex Biologicals.
The Lodestar DX analyser and testing system is registered with the European Patent Office (European Patent Application no: 22732302.9) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (no.18/558,490).