Noul releases malaria diagnostics study result in Africa

Noul, an AI-based blood and cancer diagnostic platform company, said it presented the results of a clinical performance study of its malaria diagnostic solution at an African conference.

The results show that the solution has a sensitivity of up to 94.4 percent and a specificity of up to 98.1 percent, the company said.

Noul unveiled two poster presentations on the clinical performance of its malaria diagnostic solution, miLab MAL, in three major African countries -- Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Ghana -- at the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference (MIM PAMC) held in Kigali, Rwanda, from Sunday to Saturday.

The studies were conducted to validate the effectiveness of miLab MAL for each case of use. The results showed a sensitivity of 94.4 percent, a specificity of 98.1 percent for diagnosing tropical falciparum, a sensitivity of 97 percent, and a specificity of 97.6 percent for diagnosing trichiasis.

Based on these clinical results, Noul plans to collaborate with global research institutes and national ministries of health, and the results of the collaborative research will be published in a paper later this year, the company said.

"miLab MAL is a game-changer in the field of parasitology, providing both quantitative and qualitative test results for parasite identification in patients with suspected malaria," said Professor Wellington A. Oyibo, chair of the National Malaria Operational Research Expert Group of the National Malaria Program (MOREG) and director of Research at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. "Effective deployment of miLab MAL will contribute significantly to speeding up malaria diagnosis at the national level and implementing WHO-recommended testing and treatment policies."

Kim Tae-hwan, head of Noul’s European offshoot, noted that Africa is a huge market, accounting for about 20 percent of the world's population and 95.4 percent of malaria deaths.

“By showcasing the excellent clinical performance of our malaria products at conferences across the continent, we will build concrete partnerships with key stakeholders in key markets, including global pharmaceutical companies and international organizations, and actively seek new business opportunities," Kim said.

The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM), founded in 1997, is a global alliance of multilateral malaria organizations working to strengthen scientific research capacity and control and end malaria in Africa.

It organizes the Pan-African Malaria Conference (PAMC) every four years. Major sponsors of the conference include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Medicine for Malaria Venture (MMV).