Foundation For Innovative New Diagnostics Find

THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW, LOW COST DIAGNOSTICS FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES FOR USE IN LOW- RESOURCE AREAS.

COVID-19: FIND CO-CONVENED THE DIAGNOSTICS ARM OF THE ACT ACCELERATOR - A GLOBAL COLLABORATION TO ACCELERATE ACCESS TO COVID-19 TESTS, TREATMENTS, AND VACCINES FOR LOW MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES (LMICS)- WITH THE GLOBAL FUND. FIND PLAYED THE ROLE OF THE SECRETARIAT RESPONSIBLE FOR COORDINATING ACTIVITIES AND PRIORITIES IN SUPPORT OF THE ACT-A DX PARTNERSHIP. DELIVERABLES AND ACHIEVEMENTS AS CO-LEAD OF THE DIAGNOSTICS PILLAR IN 2021: I) BOLSTERED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING OF EASY-TO-USE AND AFFORDABLE ANTIGEN-BASED RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TESTS (AG RDTS), SELF-TESTS AND POINT-OF-CARE MOLECULAR TESTS WITH OVER US$28 MILLION IN INVESTMENTS; II) CARRIED OUT SUPPLIER-INDEPENDENT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF OVER 200 COMMERCIALIZED COVID-19 DIAGNOSTIC PRODUCTS AGAINST THE OMICRON VARIANT OF CONCERN; III) PROVIDED OVER US$23 MILLION IN CATALYTIC FUNDING TO INCREASE DEMAND GENERATION FOR COVID-19 TESTING IN MORE THAN 48 LMICS; AND IV) BUILT HUMAN RESOURCE CAPACITY FOR RAPID AND MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTIC TESTING IN LABORATORIES AND OTHER DECENTRALIZED COMMUNITY-BASED SETTINGS BY JOINTLY DEVELOPING GUIDELINES WITH PARTNERS INCLUDING WHO AND THE AFRICAN SOCIETY FOR LABORATORY MEDICINE (ASLM), AND TRAINED OVER 2000 HEALTHCARE WORKERS (HCW) IN LMICS.

TB: FROM INNOVATION, TO IMPLEMENTATION, OUR EFFORTS ON TB IN 2021 FOCUSED ON: I) SUPPORTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND SAMPLE STRATEGIES SUITABLE FOR POINT-OF-CARE AND COMMUNITY-TESTING; II) HARNESSING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPAND ACCESS TO TESTING AND IMPROVE LINKS TO CARE; III) EXPANDING TESTS THAT PROVIDE RELIABLE DRUG-SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING (DST) TO CONTROL DRUG RESISTANCE; AND IV) DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE AND SPEED THE USE AND UPTAKE OF BOTH NEW AND EXISTING TOOLS WITH MARKET SHAPING INTERVENTIONS AND THROUGH DIAGNOSTIC NETWORK OPTIMIZATION (DNO) TO INFORM NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING AND INVESTMENT DECISIONS. FIND AND PARTNERS HAVE DEVELOPED A SUITE OF SUPERIOR REAGENTS AND A PROTOTYPE NEXT-GENERATION, ULTRA-SENSITIVE URINE TEST THAT, UNLIKE THE CURRENT LAM TEST, CAN BE USED TO DETECT TB IN HIV-NEGATIVE INDIVIDUALS. FIND HAS ALSO BEEN WORKING WITH PARTNERS TO IMPROVE THE TEST'S SENSITIVITY THROUGH OTHER MEANS, SUCH AS SAMPLE CONCENTRATION AND IMPROVED READOUT STRATEGIES. FIND ESTABLISHED THE FIRST CATALOGUE OF MUTATIONS THAT PREDICT DRUG RESISTANCE IN TUBERCULOSIS.

NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES (NTDS): ACROSS ALL THE NTDS (CHAGAS DISEASE, BURULI ULCER, SLEEPING SICKNESS, VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS AND SCHISTOSOMIASIS), FIND FOCUS WAS TO I) ACCELERATE R&D OF FIT-FOR-PURPOSE TOOLS; II) SUPPORT CLINICAL EVALUATION OF CURRENT TOOLS AND; III) EXPAND ACCESS TO EXISTING AND NEW TOOLS. OUR CROSS-CUTTING WORK FOCUSED ON THE LAUNCH OF THE DIAGNOSTIC PORTAL FOR NTDS AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE VIRTUAL BIOBANK FOR NTDS. IN 2021, 3 OF THE 17 CLINICAL STUDIES COMPLETED AND TWO OF THE 19 ONGOING STUDIES WERE ON NTDS. BY THE END OF 2021, 4 OF THE 28 PRODUCTS IN FIND'S PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE (EXCLUDING COVID-19 PRODUCTS) WERE FOR NTDS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CHAGAS RDT MOVED FROM FEASIBILITY TO DEVELOPMENT AND THE AG RDT LEISHMANIASIS WAS BACK IN THE PRODUCT PIPELINE AFTER BEING ON HOLD IN 2017; THE PRODUCT IS IN THE CONCEPT PHASE. OUR WORK ON NTDS HAS HELPED BRING RAPID TESTS NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE ELIMINATION OF NTDS CLOSER TO PATIENTS. IN 2021, WE CONTINUED TO MAKE PROGRESS TOWARDS REACHING THE 90% ELIMINATION GOAL FOR HUMAN AFRICAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS (HAT) AS A KEY MEMBER OF THE TRYPA-NO! PARTNERSHIP. WE ALSO COMPLETED EVALUATIONS OF CHAGAS DISEASE RDTS IN COLOMBIA AND INITIATED STUDIES IN ARGENTINA AND BOLIVIA. THESE STUDIES WILL SERVE AS EVIDENCE FOR THE USE OF RDT-BASED ALGORITHMS TO INCREASE DIAGNOSIS OF CONGENITAL CHAGAS DISEASE. A NEW RDT FOR DETECTING CHAGAS DISEASE IN ENDEMIC REGIONS IS READY FOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION IN 2022.