Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and partners have announced a set of agreements between FIND, Johns Hopkins University, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Rutgers University and Heidelberg University Hospital that bring together the Supporting, Mobilizing, and Accelerating Research for Tuberculosis Elimination (SMART4TB), DriveDx4TB (a Unitaid-funded project led by FIND), Feasibility of Novel Diagnostics for TB in Endemic Countries (FEND-TB) and Rapid Research in Diagnostics Development for TB Network (R2D2) projects to form the largest-ever coordinated effort to accelerate tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic development.

A Joint Steering Committee with representatives from each project has been established, to coordinate technology scouting activities, and refer products with potential to the appropriate project, depending on their needs and development stage. In-country clinical trials of different technologies will also be coordinated, leveraging a global clinical trial network spanning 10 low- and middle-income countries where the TB burden is highest.

The 2030 goal of ending the TB epidemic remains ambitious, but the roadmap to get there is clear and diagnostic testing is a critical element to stop transmission and save lives.