FIND and TDR agree to expand access to TB specimens
20 March 2013 - Geneva - The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and the Special Programme for Research and Training on Tropical Diseases (TDR), have joined forces to increase access to clinical reference materials needed in the development of diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB).
Currently, there are no point-of-care tests recommended for use by the World Health Organization. As a result, TB often goes undiagnosed in people who do not have easy or close access to health care facilities.
"This new collaboration should accelerate the development of the point-of-care diagnostic tests that meet quality standards," said TDR Director John Reeder.
The TDR TB Specimen Bank contains samples from patients with and without TB, collected from over a dozen geographically diverse countries.
The new agreement allows FIND to expand access to these materials through its biobanking capacity and connections to diagnostic research organizations and manufacturers. It will take over daily management of the bank and work with TDR to support increased use of the samples.
"Sample access has always been a critical bottleneck in the development and evaluation of new diagnostics for TB", said Mark Perkins, Chief Scientific Officer of FIND. "We are pleased to support TDR to maintain and distribute these precious materials, and believe that establishing a simple and centralized facility through which they can be accessed can stimulate additional test developers to work in this field".
News writers:
Sam Nuttall
Vittorio Cammarota
Young-Ae Chu
Jenniffer Dietrich
Elisabetta Minelli