University of Edinburgh part of VALUE-Dx partnership to fight antimicrobial resistance through diagnostics

The University of Antwerp, bioMérieux and Wellcome Trust announce the launch of VALUE-Dx, an Innovative Medicines Initiative consortium project involving the University of Edinburgh, that will combat antimicrobial resistance and improve patient outcomes.

VALUE-Dx is the first Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project initiated by six in vitro diagnostic companies who join forces with 20 non-industry partners to tackle the challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

ValueDx, IMI and EU logos — VALUE-Dx is a major partnership supported by over 14 million Euros over 4 years.

Transformation of medical practice

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.

Prof Till Bachmann, member of the VALUE-Dx consortium in Infection Medicine at University of Edinburgh, said:

This 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 Edinburgh Infectious Diseases.

Key role of diagnostics

Diagnostics are key to 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 kick-off meeting is taking place in Madrid, Spain, from April 1 to April 4 and brings together major stakeholders and key experts in the field of diagnostics and AMR.

International partnership

The public-private partnership includes 26 partners:

Academia:

University of Antwerp, University of Edinburgh, Universidad De La Rioja, , University Hospital Antwerp, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen, University of Oxford, Rambam Health Corporation, University of Verona

Industry:

Accelerate Diagnostics, Alere (Abbott), Becton-Dickinson, bioMérieux, Bio-Rad France, Janssen Diagnostics

Professional and other types of organisations:

Berry Consultants, Bioaster, Boston University, European Respiratory Society, European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Fondazione PENTA, Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Wellcome Trust, ZonMw