The Longitude Prize is a £10m prize fund that will reward a competitor that can develop a point–of–care diagnostic test that will conserve antibiotics for future generations and revolutionise the delivery of global healthcare. The test must be accurate, rapid, affordable, easy–to–use and available to anyone, anywhere in the world. It will identify when antibiotics are needed and, if they are, which ones to use.
The development of antibiotics has added an average of 20 years to our life. Yet the rise of antimicrobial resistance is threatening to make them ineffective. This poses a significant future risk as common infections become untreatable. Antibiotic Resistance is one of the biggest challenges facing us today. Bacteria are evolving to become resistant to the antibiotics we have successfully used for decades to treat infections. Longitude Prize is looking to help tackle the problem with a £10 million prize fund for a diagnostic tool that can rule out antibiotic use or help identify an effective antibiotic to treat a patient.
Longitude Prize is being run by Nesta an independent charity and is supported by Innovate UK. The Longitude Prize is open for anyone to compete (but must Include at leatst one member which has a presence in the United Kingdom.)
