Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND)

Neglected diseases, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria are major causes of mortality, illness and lack of economic progress for the poorest.

Because neglected diseases affect the world's poorest people, commercial markets that traditionally drive pharmaceutical company investment in new product research and development are lacking. As an important global driver for product development, public-private product development partnerships (PDPs) have been established. PDPs seek to coordinate the contributions of the private, public, academic and not-for-profit sectors to address the scientific, economic, legal and political challenges that exist in developing new health technologies for the use in developing countries, and in ensuring their rapid and widespread use.

Geneva-based FIND is currently the only PDP that focuses all its efforts on diagnostics development for poverty diseases.

FIND’s overall goal is to fight neglected diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria, and ultimately to reduce poverty resulting from the burden of these diseases, by driving the development and early implementation of innovative diagnostic tests that have a high impact on patient care and disease control in low-resource settings.

The target populations of FIND’s work are the most vulnerable populations at risk of contracting poverty-related and neglected diseases. In the next 5 years, FIND will play a critical role in supporting the treatment and control of malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, congenital chagas disease), while enhancing health system efficiencies through better disease diagnosis, reduced drug wastage and burden on tertiary health and laboratory facilities and staff.

Tuberculosis: To develop and support uptake of appropriate diagnostics that will i) reduce TB incidence by shortening time to detection, and ii) improve drug treatment strategies by enabling screening for resistance to new drug regimens.

Malaria: To develop and ensure access to tools that will support i) disease control and malaria elimination efforts and ii) allow effective case management of non-malarial fevers.

Sleeping sSickness, Lleishmaniasis and congenital cChagas: To develop point of care and molecular diagnostics that will i) be critical components of disease elimination and surveillance efforts, and ii) enable effective disease control and management, reducing incidence and morbidity. 

Expected results:  

Tuberculosis: 

• A point-of-care test for diagnosis and screening.
• Laboratory systems strengthened where test is rolled out.

Malaria: 

• Field screening tools for managing low transmission and elimination.
• Quality control of rapid diagnostic tests and performance data to guide procurement.

Sleeping sickness:

• Development, evaluation and demonstration of rapid diagnostic tests for screening populations

Results from previous phases:  

Since its inception in 2003, FIND has an impressive track record of achievements. Six new diagnostic technologies for tuberculosis have been developed, and an automated molecular test instrument to screen for tuberculosis and multi-drug resistance has been procured in the public sector in 77 countries. FIND and the World Health Organization are supporting the scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria and are developing quality assurance systems for these tests in the implementation in the field. FIND also announced the first rapid diagnostic test for sleeping sickness, bringing cost effective and easy testing to patients in remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.

FIND interacts closely with both the public and private sectors through collaborations with over 250 partners.

World Health Organization, Roll Back Malaria, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) Swiss TPH, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, SDC coordinated Swiss Malaria Group.

Phase 1 01.01.2013 - 31.12.2016   (Completed)