@BIOASTER receives $885K grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation @gatesfoundation to develop #Onchocerciasis advanced rapid #diagnostic with @mologic Ltd.
BIOASTER, today announced it has received a grant in the field of diagnosis of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The goal of the project is to develop advanced rapid diagnostics for Onchocerciasis, commonly known as “River Blindness”, one of the ten infections prioritised by the 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases and the World Health Organization for elimination by 2020.
Onchocerciasis is a debilitating disease caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus transmitted to humans through exposure to repeated bites of infected blackflies mainly in sub-Saharan Africa where 26 million people are infected and 200 million people are at risk of contracting the disease. Currently, Onchocerciasis elimination programs rely primarily on Mass Drug Administration (MDA) of Ivermectin to eliminate transmission of O. volvulus, the causative agent of the disease. A field appropriate rapid diagnostic test with high enough performance to map onchocerciasis for elimination, and determine when countries can stop MDA, is urgently needed to eliminate transmission of this devastating disease in low-income countries.
The complete press release here.