CARB-X funds Indian diagnostic company Module Innovations

CARB-X will invest up to $3m into India-based diagnostics company Module Innovations whichis developing a rapid easy-to-use diagnostic for drug-resistant urinary tract infections (UTI).

CARB-X is awarding Module Innovations of Pune, India, up to US$702,000 plus up to $2.5 million more if certain project milestones are met, to develop a rapid diagnostic for drug-resistant urinary tract infections (UTI).The diagnostic would also provide vital information on which antibiotics would be most effective against the superbug, including common uropathogens such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococci faecalis that often cause infection.

The phenotypic test, ASTSENSe^TM for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) of UTIs, would shave days off the time it takes to diagnose a UTI. A simple, non-invasive urine sample would be loaded into the ASTSENSe device, which would diagnose an infection and provide the antibiotic resistance profile of the pathogen(s) involved within two hours.