Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death in U.S. hospitals, and affects about 1.7 million people each year. Time is of the essence when diagnosing sepsis, but doctors have historically not had reliable ways to do so quickly enough to save patients with antibiotics or antimicrobial treatments. That changed in 2024, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Prenosis’ Sepsis Immunoscore, the first AI diagnostic test for sepsis that helps doctors to not only diagnose infections but also predict which patients are most likely to progress quickly with severe cases in the next 24 hours. The test is built on an AI algorithm that scans 22 different health metrics, including vital signs, cell and blood measurements to come up with a sepsis risk score. Based on that score, doctors have more confidence in starting treatment if the risk is high enough. Prenosis CEO Bobby Reddy, Jr., says the company isn’t stopping there—with the deeper understanding of the different causes of the condition, which informed the development of Immunoscore, he hopes to contribute to better drug treatments for sepsis, particularly severe sepsis, in the future.