Business Planner
| Selected winner: | CarbGeM Inc. |
| Solution name: | BiTTE: Tackling anti-microbial resistance |
| Origin of the winner: | Japan |
CarbGeM is a newly established Japanese startup. Its AI-based smartphone application BiTTE was originally inspired by the clinical needs in the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Japan. CarbGeM aims to overcome the problem of antimicrobial resistance through biology and digital technology and industry-government-academia collaboration. The R&D activities are supported by several Japanese government grants.
BiTTE: Tackling anti-microbial resistance
CarbGeM’s AI-based image recognition smartphone application, BiTTE, reads microscopic images of gram-stained samples from patients who might have infection. BiTTe then sends the images to CarbGeM’s cloud server and obtains the name of the bacteria in the samples. Finally, BiTTe presents physicians appropriate antimicrobials for the treatment based on available antibiograms, for example regional antibiograms or WHO’s AWaRe Classification.
BiTTE assists physicians and laboratory technicians especially in primary care settings and outpatient settings such as emergency departments in identifying the species of bacterial infections and suggesting appropriate antimicrobial agents. By encouraging an early stage diagnosis and evidence-based antibiotics recommendation in a fast and accurate manner, BiTTE promotes a proper prescription of antibiotics. Hopefully, it will contribute to the prevention of antibiotic resistance problems. Currently CarbGeM is collaborating with National Center for Global Health and Medicine and Kobe University in development and preparing the PMDA medical device program approval for BiTTE in Japan.
The Challenge winners are solely responsible for their contributions and views. They do not necessarily reflect those of WHO. In no event shall WHO be responsible for the accuracy of information shared by any of the participants. These solutions were judged for their merits as novel, creative solutions but no specific technology assessment was applied, nor any endorsement in practice should be implied.