Systems biology biotechnology company Avesthagen has signed an MoU with US-based CosmosID for collaborating in diagnosis and therapeutic management of tuberculosis treatment.
Avesthagen and CosmosID would pool their expertise to identify the particular TB strain and thereby support proper treatment, Avesthagen said in a statement.
The collaboration is expected to result in a new method for developing diagnostic kits for rapid screening of patient samples, it added.
"Tuberculosis is a serious tropical disease and the efficacy of its treatment lies in accurate and rapid identification of the TB strains. Avesthagen has been working on TB for some time and has developed a genomic data pool," Villoo Morawala-Patell, founder and CMD of Avesthagen, said.
"In CosmosID we have found a leader and strong partner, developing rapid pathogen identification methods, MetaSeq Genomics, to facilitate more precise diagnostic screening of infectious disease in a single, rapid, and accurate test.
The collaboration would help improve healthcare in developing and lesser developed countries where it is needed the most, Patell said.
"Our collaboration will provide significant benefits for TB patients worldwide and demonstrates a new paradigm for medical diagnostic screening of infectious disease," Rita Colwell, Founder and Chairman of CosmosID said.