Noul Co. Ltd - The RIGHT Foundation Commences Research and Development for Supporting Malaria Control

• Aim to accelerate global business and access to the public market based on reliable research results
• Grant funds will be utilized for global clinical studies and cost-effectiveness analysis of the miLab™ Platform over the next three years

YONGIN, South Korea, March 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Noul Co. Ltd (CEO : David Lim) announced that it has signed an agreement with The RIGHT Foundation to conduct a global clinical studies to determine the potential for public market access in malaria-endemic countries of Africa and Asia. Over the next three years, about four billion KRW (3.1 million USD) that Noul received from The RIGHT Foundation will be used to support global clinical studies and cost-effectiveness analysis of the miLab™ Platform in Africa and Asia.

To ensure the credibility of the result, Noul will collaborate with global institutions and national malaria programs such as PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), Swiss TPH (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute), GIDC (Ghana Infectious Disease Center), MNMCP(Malawi National Malaria Control Program) and University of Notre Dame in the U.S.

Malaria is a disease with a high demand for diagnosis, affecting more than 200 million people yearly. Still it has recently been facing great difficulties in diagnosis due to the increase of genetic mutations that are difficult to diagnose with existing RDT(rapid diagnostic tests), and drug resistance problem. Through this agreement, Noul and The RIGHT Foundation will conduct multi-country clinical studies to  compare the diagnostic accuracy of the miLab™ with the result of the gold standard microscopic diagnosis and PCR analysis. Also, both parties will analyze the value and cost-effectiveness of the miLab™ Platform in the global healthcare market, and accelerate public market entry through local product registration.

David Lim, CEO of Noul stated "Through this collaboration with The RIGHT Foundation, Noul will contribute to promoting global health equity and the next level of business performance based on internationally recognized references. We will continue to collaborate with various institutions worldwide to expand the miLab™ Platform to become the global standard for microscopic diagnosis of malaria, which is performed over 200 million times a year."

The RIGHT Foundation is a global health research funding foundation through the public-private partnership between the Government of Korea, Korean Life Science companies, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), to address the medical and technological needs towards alleviating the burden of infectious diseases especially in developing countries. It provides a platform to catalyze collaborations between Korean and international researchers, product developers and public health workers to develop essential health technologies as global public good with the ultimate goal of improving health and health equity globally.

Noul's miLab™ diagnostic platform is an all-in-one blood diagnosis platform that combines cartridge, solid-based next-generation staining and immunostaining(NGSI) stamping technology, and embedded artificial intelligence. Sample preprocessing, blood imaging, and reading functions are all performed within a miniaturized device, providing help in performing diagnostic tests in the field of blood and tissue cells in environments without large equipment or laboratories. In the report, Malaria Diagnostics Market and Technology Landscape 4th edition, Unitaid stated 'the most advanced digital microscopes are fully integrated benchtop platforms from Noul'.

miLab™ is used at Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Carlos III Health Institute in Spain, the National Center for Malaria & Vector Control in United Arab Emirate and Boston Chldren's Hospital in the U.S. Based on these references, miLab™'s use is rapidly increasing in African countries with malaria.