By Shobha Shukla & Bobby Ramakant
World’s largest prize devoted to TB, the coveted Kochon Prize, was awarded to India’s Molbio Diagnostics for its technological innovation which is helping over 90 governments worldwide to reach the unreached with best of diagnostics (molecular tests). This is the third time India won Kochon Prize with previous two recipients being 2006-head of Indian government’s TB programme Dr LS Chauhan, and country’s apex medical research body – Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2017.
On 29th October 2025, the United Nations OPS hosted Stop TB Partnership in Geneva and Korean Kochon Foundation conferred upon the prestigious Kochon Prize to Molbio’s founder head Sriram Natarajan in Manila on 29th October 2025. Along with global recognition, the Kochon Prize consists of a medal and a US$ 65,000, which is the largest prize globally devoted to TB.
Molbio became the first private innovator company worldwide to receive the much sought-after Kochon Prize.
It all begins with an idea!
Making highly specialised diagnostics simpler
When Molbio was founded 25 years ago (in 2000), the gold standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was only restricted to bio-safety level-3 laboratories (BSL-3) where those entering had (and still have) to wear hazmat suits with high-low air pressure controls and several other essential infection prevention and control mechanisms. Of course, stable power supply and air-conditioning and other highly specialised laboratory infrastructure were, and is, essential to run such a diagnostic facility. No surprise that PCR laboratories were confined only to a few laboratories in tertiary care hospitals or medical teaching institutions.
Team Molbio had an idea
“An idea whose time has come”
Researchers at team Molbio embarked on an insane exploration: to transform PCR molecular diagnostics in a way that it can be deployed in a setting that serves the underserved, without stable electricity, air-conditioning or other resource-intensive laboratory infrastructure. Can we innovate to develop RT-PCR in a way which is not dependent on electricity, air-conditioning or laboratory infrastructure and still test for a range of disease-causing pathogens with high sensitivity and specificity? would have been the research question that perhaps drove them – to impact change – and inspire.
It took them almost one and a half decade (and a lot of belief, undeterred conviction, grit, insanity, drive, motivation and investment) to develop a RT-PCR molecular test Truenat that was highly sensitive and specific for several disease-causing pathogens.
In 2017, Indian government’s ICMR validated Truenat, soon after which Indian government’s Ministry of Health began its deployment in remote or peripheral settings across the country. And then, thanks to Geneva-based FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics), the United Nations apex health agency – the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed it in 2020 after rigorous validation studies conducted worldwide.
Truenat became WHO’s first truly point-of-care, decentralised, laboratory independent and battery powered (with solar charging capabilities) molecular test for TB – and a range of ~40 other diseases, such as human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, sexually transmitted infections, COVID-19, among others.
“Unless best of health technologies reach those who are most underserved and need them most, how will we reduce human suffering and avert untimely deaths? Technologies must be made to serve those who need them most. If health technologies cannot be deployed in resource-constrained settings, then they would remain inaccessible to those in acute need. Point-of-care technologies are not enough, we need to deploy them too at point-of-need,” said Tariro Kutadza, a noted community rights activist and defender from Zimbabwe. She leads TB People (Zimbabwe) and was in Manila when Kochon Prize was conferred upon Molbio Diagnostics.
Truenat has enabled progress on keeping the promise
Truenat has made it possible to deliver on the promise of Find.Treat.All (initiative first launched in 2018 by the highest level leadership of the WHO, Stop TB Partnership and others) by completely replacing microscopy with upfront molecular testing – especially in low- and middle-income countries. This promise was also echoed by the World Leaders at the UNHLM on the TB 2023 political declaration to be met by 2027.
Unless we stop missing TB cases among those who take a TB test, and unless we reach the unreached populations with equity and rights with WHO recommended diagnostics (and full cascade of TB care services in a person-centred manner), we would not be able to stop the spread of the infection as well as fail to reduce avoidable human suffering and untimely deaths due to TB.
As Truenat is a multi-disease molecular testing platform, with its growing deployment (especially in the Global South), we are also strengthening the laboratory infrastructure for key and other vulnerable populations so that they can access highly sensitive and specific diagnostics for over 40 diseases closer to their communities. Early and accurate diagnosis is not only an entry-gate to right treatment but also prevents misuse and overuse of medicines (which is vital to prevent antimicrobial resistance).
Solar powered molecular test Truenat
Several countries, such as, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have deployed Truenat molecular tests in remote peripheral settings where there is no stable power supply to recharge the battery. So, solar power capabilities became a lifesaver in such circumstances.
Last year in December 2024, Nigeria launched the largest rollout of Truenat and Molbio’s Prorad artificial intelligence (AI) enabled X-Rays on the African continent. Each of these point-of-care diagnostics have been deployed in remote and peripheral settings.
Likewise, over 90 countries now benefit from Truenat when they deploy it to reach the underserved communities – and bring best of diagnostics closer to the most-at-risk peoples and communities.
India led from the front
The Indian government came forward to support in-country scientific validation studies for Truenat, thankfully.
“Research for validating new tools, designing new tools and relying on Made-in-India tools for screening and diagnosing TB and not depending on the outside, has made a phenomenal difference,” had said Dr Urvashi B Singh, Indian government’s head of National TB Elimination Programme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and a distinguished scientist and microbiologist (who had an illustrious inning as Microbiology Professor and in-charge TB at Indian government’s prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi). She was speaking at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting earlier this year.
Truenat is the largest used molecular test for TB in the government’s programme for several years now.
When point-of-care tools are deployed at point-of-need, impact happens. Recently, India launched a massive 100-days campaign (7 December 2024 to 24 March 2025) to screen everyone among high-risk populations of 347 districts with ultraportable and handheld X-Rays which were powered with artificial intelligence (AI) computer-aided detection (CAD) of TB (as far as possible). The concept note of this campaign on a government website states that those with presumptive TB should be offered an upfront Truenat.
The concept note of the 100 days campaign states that point-of-care screening tool (X-Ray) and diagnostic test (Truenat) should be taken in a ‘Nikshay Vahan’ van to point-of-need where high-risk populations reside.
In a span of 100 days, India could screen over 120 million people across the country from high-risk groups. More importantly, India found 285,000 people with active TB disease who had no symptoms (asymptomatic or subclinical TB). These people would not have been found with TB disease if an X-Ray was not done. Imagine the public health impact of finding 285,000 asymptomatic people with TB disease early on, and putting them on effective treatment – so that not only infection stops spreading to others but also they get on the path of healing and recovery.
Now, after 24 March 2025, India has expanded this science-backed campaign nationwide.
Confirmed Dr Urvashi at WHS-RM: “Based on evidence, the Indian government’s National TB Elimination Programme adopted Truenat in 2018. Today India has a network of over 9000 NAAT systems across the country – deployed at the level of primary health centres, community health centres and even at the block levels.” Developing, standardising and validating made-in-India health technologies and deploying them “is about making the country self-reliant,” said Dr Singh. “Today, Truenat is in fact being exported to 82 countries. So, that is where our Indian indigenous technology, which was supported by ICMR, has reached.”
(The writers are working at the Citizen News Service)
