Horizon Prize for Better Use of Antibiotics

What was the Horizon Prize for Better Use of Antibiotics?

Run by the European Commission with support from Challenge Works, the aim of this €1 million prize was to develop a rapid test to identify, at the point of care, patients with upper respiratory tract infections that can be treated safely without antibiotics.

The test needed to be cheap, rapid, easy-to-use for healthcare providers and non-(or minimally)invasive for patients. The rules of the prize specified the targets to be met but did not prescribe the methodology or any technical details of the test, thereby giving applicants total freedom to come up with the most promising and effective solution, be it from an established scientist in the field or from an innovative newcomer.

Why did we do this?

By stopping many patients from taking antibiotics needlessly, it will prevent side effects of unnecessary treatment, eliminate the cost of prescribing the antibiotics and, most importantly, decrease the development of resistant bacteria.

What happened?

Launched in March 2015, applicants had until 17 August 2016 to submit their entries. Following the jury’s deliberations and decisions, the winner and two runners-up were announced at a ceremony in Leuven, Belgium on 6 February 2017.

Winner – Minicare HNL

The winner of the €1 million prize was Minicare HNL, a combined research effort of two partners, PHILIPS Electronics Nederland and P&M Venge AB. This research led to a unique solution to reliably detect bacterial infection at the point of care using a fast and easy-to-use test. Based on the detection of the biomarker Human Neutrophil Lipocalin (HNL) on the Minicare platform from a single droplet of blood, the procedure is a finger prick test and is therefore regarded as minimally invasive. The test takes less than ten minutes to deliver a result.

In order to make this marker available in the primary care settings, the HNL assay has been transferred onto the CE marked Philips Minicare system – a platform that supports various blood tests, consisting of a point of care analyzer and cartridges supporting different types of tests. Further industrialization of the Minicare HNL is planned in order to bring to market a reliable, fast and easy to use method to support better use of antibiotics.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MINICARE HNL