Mologic, a Bedfordshire, U.K.-based diagnostic testing development company, received a $4.8 million grant over 2 years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company will use the grant to establish the Centre for Advanced Rapid Diagnostics (CARD).
The Centre will be used to develop fast, new, low-cost, and simple protein biomarker detection products aimed primarily at helping people in the developing world. According to the company, the fundamental technologies of rapid diagnostic testing have changed little since their invention in the mid-1980s.
“We are delighted to spearhead this bold new venture and consider it a privilege to be selected as the core team to deliver radical new diagnostic technology to the neediest people of the world,” said Paul Davis, Ph.D., CSO and co-founder of Mologic. “There is a personal significance in this for me. I was a member of the team that invented lateral-flow immunoassay technology in the 1980s and now, 30 years later, I have the privilege of leading the CARD program in its quest to revamp, update, or supersede the immunochromatographic assay workhorse that has served the industry so well. I have no doubt that the new technology will enable the use of newly discovered, low-concentration biomarkers and known biomarkers of infection much earlier than has previously been possible, leading to a new power to predict and diagnose many troublesome diseases.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides grants to thousands of organizations around the world to further their objectives—lift the poorest people out of hunger and poverty, harness advances in life sciences and technology to save lives in developing countries, improve U.S. high-school and postsecondary education, and build strategic relationships to further their global agendas. This grant to establish the CARD is in keeping with the Foundation’s goal of bettering global healthcare access by delivering a new, ultrasensitive, point-of-care technology platform to bring rapid diagnostic testing to the developing world.
“Mologic has long been recognized for its talents in diagnostic innovation, and this commitment from the Foundation is a wonderful recognition of this,” said Mark Davis, CEO of Mologic (and son of co-founder Paul Davis). “Our team is uniquely positioned to deliver the vision and objectives of the new Centre and of the Foundation. Our desire is to fully apply the platform technology throughout the developing and developed world and our teams are planning on a wide range of diagnostic products with superior performance, enabling the medical profession to address previously unmet patient needs irrespective of location and medical training.”
According to a company statement, the CARD team is currently seeking interest from technology providers who are willing to join them in the mission to improve the health of the developing world.
