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DTI – A unique medial device preventing clinical drug resistance

EARTO Innovation Awards 2016 – Impact Expected Category

  Hospital-acquired infections are the fourth largest cause of death in the Western world, affecting millions of patients annually. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), which develops in patients requiring a urinary catheter, is responsible for 40% of these infections. Present treatment is large doses of systemically applied drugs, with the risk of developing clinical drug resistance. Each year, 386.000 infections are caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, with a costs for the EU estimated at €1.534 billion.   Innovation: To tackle this problem, DTI and its partners developed a new generation of antimicrobial devices preventing infections in the BacAttack project. It can reduce the infection rate and provide for local treatment with long-term effect instead of systemic treatment, combating the development of multi-drug resistant bacteria.   Impact Expected: The global market for urinary catheters should reach €3.5 billion in 2016, and the partner companies anticipate up to a 10% market share for the new devices. Several hospitals have already indicated their interest. For their patients, the key benefit of using the catheter is to avoid getting an infection, which results in fewer hospitalisation days and reduced mortality.  
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  DTI is a Danish RTO focussing on innovation and competitiveness, management and training, sustainable exploitation of resources, and cost-effectiveness in companies and society.   www.dti.dk