Societal Impact Award 2024

Tuberculosis (TB) has claimed more human lives than any other bacterial disease, with inefficient diagnosis adversely affecting morbidity and mortality. The CBTBR’s cross-disciplinary research program yielded a series of scientific breakthroughs on the biology of the TB bacillus, from characterisation of the bacterial cell wall to translating how this affects diagnosis. The CBTBR advanced its work for direct patient benefit by developing methods which allow for greater recovery of TB bacteria in patient specimens. These findings were applied to enhance TB diagnosis in people living with HIV or with extra-pulmonary TB.

The CBTBR translated research into products that enabled the mass rollout of TB testing in South Africa and globally, supporting the National Department of Health in its rollout. A critical component of diagnostic testing is ensuring that tests operate optimally, requiring a sample of the disease-causing agent for validation. The lack of control products hampered rollout locally. The CBTBR addressed this problem through the development of a series of products comprised of inactivated TB bacteria and a second-generation series of biomimetic products wherein only the specific TB DNA targets were present in non-pathogenic bacteria, thus mimicking TB bacteria during the validation of diagnostic tests. This novel technology has been expanded to other pathogens, including drug resistant TB, SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. These technologies have allowed patients to be diagnosed and access care. In terms of Societal Impact, the panel recognised how CBTBR products have enabled hundreds of thousands of patients to access diagnostic tests for drug sensitive TB (46 countries) and drug resistant TB (22 countries). CBTBR also secured endorsement for their products from the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), facilitating their broader use and impact. Furthermore, in 2020, while the South African national testing system struggled with deployment of Covid-19 mass testing, the CBTBR developed the world’s first series of biologically safe SARS-CoV-2 biomimetic control products which enabled the immediate rollout of Covid-19 mass testing in South Africa and 30 other countries. The collective effort enabled access to life-saving diagnostics for millions of people.