Article By: NoCamels Team
Originally Published: Oct 1, 2024
Israeli medical diagnostic company MeMed has announced the successful completion of the first randomized controlled trial in the US of its test to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections.
The test could reduce the amount of use of antibiotics, which do not work on viral infections but whose prescription for them plays a part in the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
The company says the trial of the MeMed BV test successfully demonstrates its clinical utility in promoting appropriate antibiotic use, highlighting its potential to improve patient outcomes and healthcare decision making. It also called the trial a critical step toward making the test the standard for distinguishing bacterial and viral infections.
The randomized controlled trial was conducted across 11 Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Centers (UCCs) in the US and Israel, and included 260 adult patients with clinical suspicion of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI).
The first small-scale analysis of data from the trial showed a 62 percent relative reduction in unnecessary antibiotic prescription rates, while follow-up data indicated no significant increase in the rate of return ED/UCC visits within 7 days.
Read the full article at nocamels.com.
MeMed Co-founder and CTO Kfir Oved is a Technion alumnus