The National Institutes of Health and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response launched a competition for laboratory diagnostic tests to combat the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The federal competition, called the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, will award $20 million in prizes over all phases of the competition. The competition aims to encourage the development of diagnostic tests that identify and characterize antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as that distinguish between viral and bacterial infections.
"The growing incidence of serious infections from antibiotic resistant bacteria presents a critical risk to the public health of our nation," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, in a statement. "My hope is that this competition will spur exceptional innovators to rise to the challenge and deliver effective tools to help manage this significant problem."
The competition will include three phases, with up to 10 finalists being selected in the final stage. Each of the finalists will receive up to $100,000.