Israeli company wins €2.5M to combat drug resistance

The company's immune-based protein signature MeMed BV distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections, helping physicians determine whether antibiotic treatment is appropriate.

EXPERTS CLAIM uncontrolled antibiotic use is turning farmed animals into reservoirs of drug-resistant bacteria that can easily spread.  (photo credit: DREAMSTIME/TNS)
EXPERTS CLAIM uncontrolled antibiotic use is turning farmed animals into reservoirs of drug-resistant bacteria that can easily spread.
(photo credit: DREAMSTIME/TNS)
 MeMed Ltd., a Haifa-based Israeli company that specializes in response-based diagnostic solutions, announced last week that it had received €2.5 million in non-dilutive funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which supports small- and medium-sized companies having breakthrough innovations.
A recipient of previous awards, MeMed simplifies the immune system's complex signals, turning them into diagnostic insights.
The company's immune-based protein signature MeMed BV distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections, helping physicians determine whether antibiotic treatment is appropriate.
"We're honored that the European Innovation Council continues to recognize and support MeMed," said the company's co-founder and CEO Eran Eden. "Their enduring commitment to MeMed's mission and approach reflects the growing maturity of our pioneering technology suite as well as its potential to broadly and meaningfully improve patient care."
According to MeMed, the company will use the funding from the EIC to accelerate expansion of its protein signature's capability to include minimally invasive capillary blood samples.
The EIC award, the company said, will also be used to fast-track the generation of additional, real-world evidence to further validate the signature's clinical utility. The evidence will bolster the already available high-quality data on MeMed BV from more than 15,000 patients.
"This award also recognizes the urgency of challenging the status quo in antibiotics, prescribing and addressing the overuse of these important medicines, which leads to antimicrobial resistance, an increasingly serious threat to global public health that MeMed's disruptive technology suite is uniquely positioned to combat," said MeMed co-founder, chairman and CTO Kfir Oved.