Hospital-acquired infections focus for 2012 BIO-X call

Hospital-acquired infections pose one of the greatest challenges to healthcare. On average, 10 % of Sweden’s hospital beds are occupied by patients with an infection they contracted through their contact with medical care. The societal costs for this care are high, as they are for patients and their loved ones who are affected in various ways. What’s more, in Sweden alone some 1 500 people die each year as a result of hospital-acquired infections.

Uppsala BIO's newly launched BIO-X call is looking for new products and services that can prevent the occurrence of  hospital-acquired infections, for example by detecting sources of contagion at a very early stage. Both academic researchers and small and medium-size companies are invited to submit proposed solutions.

The call targets ideas that can lead to new products and services that can reduce the risk that patients who come into contact with healthcare will spread or contract new infections.

An estimated 12 % of all patients visiting some medical facility in Sweden today contract new infections as a result of the visit, and as many as 10 % of our hospital beds are occupied by patients fighting a hospital-acquired infection. Hosptial-acquired infections thus impact many patients and increase healthcare costs. Hosptial-acquired infections are also closely tied to the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics. This is one of the greatest and most pressing challenges that healthcare faces.

” This is one of the greatest and most pressing problems for healthcare, where the way out is often thought to lie in the development of new antibiotics but where in all probability a multifaceted approach is required to reach a sustainable solution.”, said professor Sune Larsson, R&D director at Uppsala University Hospital in a comment to the new call.

The BIO-X call is open to small and medium-size companies and to academic researchers throughout Eastern Central Sweden, that is, Uppsala, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Örebro and Östergötland counties.

“Projects at BIO-X normally require partners from academia, industry, and clinics”, says Karin Agerman, in project manager for the call at Uppsala BIO. “If applicants haven’t found partners before applying, we help them both to identify and to sign up the right partners for the project.”

Projects selected for support from BIO-X are offered a custom-tailored program that provides them with access to individuals with extensive experience of product and business development in industry, expertise from healthcare, IP advice, etc, as well as funding of up to SEK 1 million per year for 18 – 24 months. The goal of each project is to develop a so-called proof-of-concept, that is, to have reached the level of maturity needed to attract sufficient commercial investments to continue the product development.

The life science industry is seeing an ever greater need to collaborate with research teams and small innovative companies to ensure a competitive inflow of innovations. Even though such collaborations are regarded as important, many actors nevertheless see them as difficult to manage in a way that satisfies all parties. Uppsala BIO’s program BIO-X provides the structure these collaborations require and predicates its work on stated needs of healthcare providers and the life science industry.

Since its inception, BIO-X has granted seventeen projects its full support, that is, both process support and funding. Four of five projects leaving BIO-X continue to be developed in companies.

The call is open through February 7, 2013. All information about the call is available at www.uppsalabio.se/bio-x.