Oliver Schacht, CEO of OpGen looks at why technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning could be key to combatting antimicrobial resistance.
Though the Covid-19 pandemic certainly is not over, that does not mean that the global healthcare and medical communities can afford to ignore the next pandemic -- antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Currently, the World Health Organization lists drug resistance as one of their top 10 global health issues to track in 2021. And the World Economic Forum recently announced that superbugs could be more deadly than Covid-19. Slowly but surely, the general public is becoming increasingly aware of the looming and growing threat of “the silent AMR pandemic”.
As the risk of superbugs continues to work its way into the public consciousness, the global healthcare community is turning its eyes towards the next frontier in the fight against AMR. Where existing solutions rely heavily on drug-based solutions, the future of AMR prevention and treatment optimisation lies in embracing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and prioritising non-drug solutions such as rapid and comprehensive diagnostics.