Ensuring innovation for diagnostics for bacterial infectionto combat antimicrobial resistance

An effective global AMR response will require diagnostics that are affordable and accessible, can be used at the point-of-care (POC), and can rapidly determine antimicrobial susceptibility or detect resistance. These tests are urgently needed to guide patient management, reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics and improve patient outcomes. POC tests with resistance detection and data transmission capabilities will be useful for AMR surveillance to monitor AMR trends and detect emergence of novel resistance in real time to enable timely optimisation of AMR strategies. Connected diagnostics have the potential to improve the efficiency of health care systems by simplifying patient pathways, guiding appropriate use of drugs and other resources and improving patient outcomes. POC tests are also useful in reducing the cost of R&D for new antibiotics. To ensure innovation in diagnostics development and deployment, a sound business case needs to be made to quantify the risk of not having diagnostics to improve the specificity of syndromic management. Financing mechanisms to incentivize diagnostic innovation, de-risk R&D and to finance the deployment of novel diagnostic solutions for AMR within different health systems are urgently needed.