Medical tests maker awarded funding to support fight against malaria
Abingdon Health, a developer of medical tests, has been awarded around £800,000 as part of total project funding of five million euros to devise a new test for the malaria parasite.
The 24-month project also involves Institut Pasteur (and its affiliates in Madagascar and Senegal), the Armauer Hansen Research Institute in Ethiopia, FIND, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI).
The funding to Abingdon Health, which will be provided by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the “Horizon Europe Guarantee” scheme.
It will allow the company to lead the development of a point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for Plasmodium vivax (P.vivax) infection to support in-field testing and treatment to facilitate malaria control strategy.
Chris Yates, CEO of York-headquartered Abingdon Health, said: “We are happy to have won this grant award as part of a world-leading group of institutions.
“We are excited to add Abingdon Health’s RDT development and manufacturing scale-up expertise to that of our distinguished group of partners.
“Working with the Institut Pasteur, FIND, LSHTM, and WEHI gives us a great opportunity to produce rapid tests to aid the management of malaria.”
Dr Michael White, director of research at Institute Pasteur, added: “We are very pleased to partner with Abingdon Health to develop and manufacture a new rapid diagnostic test for Plasmodium vivax malaria that is poised to make an important contribution to malaria elimination efforts.”
Once the new diagnostic test has successfully been developed, Abingdon Health will transfer it to diaTROPIX, a Senegalese manufacturing organisation based at Institut Pasteur Dakar.
This is intended to help build new infrastructure, aiming to facilitate the preparation, management, and response to infectious diseases.
