Preventing The Overuse Of Antibiotics: MeMed Is Differentiating Bacteria From Virus
Antibiotics have been around for more than 50 years, benefiting both humans and animals alike. However, while the drug used for treating infections caused by bacteria may be extremely beneficial, it does have its downfalls. According to the CDC, each time a person takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant ones may be left to grow and multiply. In other words, if you don’t actually have a bacterial infection, trust us when we tell you that you really don’t want to start taking antibiotics.
Due to side effects including diarrhea and yeast infections, the CDC has agreed that antibiotics are not always the answer. What is deemed as a magical drug is not able to fight viral infections like colds, flu, as well as many sinus, throat and ear infections.
This is where MeMed comes in. The Israeli startup’s main product, ImmunoXpert is an in-vitro diagnostic test, which aims to revolutionize the way in which antibiotics are being subscribed. The ImmunoXpert decodes the body’s immune response in order to distinguish between bacterial infections that require antibiotics, and viral infections that don’t necessarily warrant the use of the drug.
Judging by facts from MeMed’s site, the ImmunoXpert will not only change people’s lives for the better, since there are currently over 8 billion unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions given out, but it will also benefit the economy. Aside from these unnecessary prescriptions costing more than $113 billion, 83 million patients are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to overuse of the drug, a malady that is deemed as one of the biggest global health care problems of our time. The cost of treating those patients comes up to more than a whopping $178 billion.
In an interview with Globes, Dr. Eran Eden, Co-founder and CEO of MeMed admitted to the fact that when he and Dr.Kfir Oved, his co-founder at MeMed, developed the device, they feared that pharmaceutical firms would try to buy them out only to kill the project. However, that is when they realized that “even drug companies have an incentive to develop this technology for a number of reasons... Meaning the choice will not be between antibiotics or no treatment, but between antiviral drugs and antibiotics; the pharmaceutical companies will continue to profit in each scenario.” In June, MeMed beat 90 other firms to a €3 million grant by the European Union’s Horizon 2020, proving the importance of their innovation.
How does ImmunoXpert work exactly?
When MeMed set out to create their main product, the ImmunoXpert ,they weren’t alone in the medical scene trying to differentiate between bacteria and virus. While bacterial culture tests have been around for quite some time, as Eden points out, they require two days for the bacteria to grow. “It’s easy for a throat infection, you use a swab, but what do you do with a lung infection or sinusitis? What about cases where it is unclear where the infection is and what should be tested?” Eden and Oved knew they were in for a challenge, one which Eden compared to a climb up Mount Everest.
That is when the two decided to create a system based on the patient’s immune response that would identify bacterial and viral infections and attack them. However, unlike other companies aiming for that same solution, MeMed made up an algorithm that is able to identify between a bacterial or viral infection, or no infection without having to seek out where the disease stems from in the body.
Despite their preliminary success, it took quite some time before the two were able to not only begin experimental trials but also find their first investor.
MeMed’s first significant study ended in 2013 and involved 1,002 patients, including children from ages 3 months and up. “The response rate for the trial was incredible,” says Oved. “We were surprised by how aware patients were of the need to solve the problem.” And while the best hospitals in the world manage to have an 80% accuracy in diagnosis of bacteria versus viral infections, Oved says that MeMed were able to get a 90% accuracy rating within only 99 minutes.
Fighting a possible epidemic
As of now, MeMed has received regulatory approval in Israel and Europe and is currently running pilot programs at Bnai Zion and Hillel Yaffe hospitals, as well as in hospitals in Geneva and Utrecht. London trials are set to begin shortly, even though Eden has his sights set on China.
The reason behind the company’s rapid rise to success lies in the global effort to cope with the alarming consequences of antibiotic overuse. Excessive use of antibiotics has led to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could bring about "the end of modern medicine as we know it", according to the World Health Organization.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria lose their sensitivity to antibiotics and resistant bacteria are able to withstand attacks by antibiotics. As a result, standard treatments do not suffice and infections persist and may be contagious. Simply put, as was in the medieval period, people suffering from the resistant bacteria could die from the most trivial maladies, such as a throat infection. In fact, 50 thousand people in the US and Europe die annually as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant infections. The US alone has recently launched a multiyear plan to streamline antibiotic use and fight the evolution of resistant strains.
According to Eden, he and Oved founded MeMed when antibiotic resistance was “not the sexiest problem in the world.” While he admits that without antibiotics “we could not treat cancer patients or keep premature babies alive,” he says that “as of now, every other antibiotic course given is unnecessary. Aside from the money being wasted, prescribing antibiotics is like dropping an atomic bomb into the stomach.”
MeMed have yet to reveal the price of the ImmunoXpert, but they are currently developing a revolutionary hand-held device that will distinguish between bacterial and viral infections at the point-of-care.
In spite of the company’s recent success as well as an offer to relocate, Eden and Oved are staying put in Israel. “We want to be the largest diagnostic company in Israel, the next Teva of diagnostics and develop more tools with the capabilities we gained.”
