Feds offer prizes for innovative ways to fight drug-resistant bacteria

Two federal programs are coordinating on $20 million in prizes for all phases of competition for new, innovative, and novel laboratory diagnostic tests to combat the development and spread of drug-resistant bacteria.  Announced Sept. 8 by the National Institutes of Health and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, the competition — the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge — is designed to tackle what officials call “a rising public health threat.”