India’s Molbio Diagnostics won the Kochon Prize on 29 October 2025 for taking molecular TB testing to the last mile.
The Stop TB Partnership, hosted by UNOPS, and the Kochon Foundation announced the winner in Geneva, with the prize conferred in Manila the same day. The award includes global recognition, a medal, and US$65,000.
Molbio is the first private innovator to receive the Kochon Prize. Its Truenat platform supports programs in more than 90 countries, helping replace smear microscopy with sensitive, battery-powered molecular tests at point-of-need.
Truenat took shape over 15 years. The team set out in 2000 to simplify PCR so it could work without stable electricity, air-conditioning, or complex labs. India’s ICMR validated Truenat in 2017. WHO issued endorsement in 2020 after global studies supported by FIND. Truenat now detects TB and about 40 other diseases, including HPV, hepatitis B and C, sexually transmitted infections, and COVID-19.
“Unless best of health technologies reach those who are most underserved and need them most, how will we reduce human suffering and avert untimely deaths? … Point-of-care technologies are not enough, we need to deploy them too at point-of-need,” said Tariro Kutadza of TB People (Zimbabwe), who attended the Manila event.
Countries with weak power grids use Truenat’s solar-charging option. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one example. In December 2024, Nigeria began the continent’s largest rollout of Truenat and Molbio’s Prorad AI-enabled X-rays in peripheral settings.
India backed in-country validation and rapid deployment. “Based on evidence, [the programme] adopted Truenat in 2018. Today India has a network of over 9000 NAAT systems … Truenat is in fact, getting exported to 82 countries,” said Dr Urvashi B Singh, head of the National TB Elimination Programme.
A national 100-day campaign (7 December 2024–24 March 2025) took handheld or ultraportable X-rays with AI and upfront Truenat to high-risk groups in 347 districts. Teams screened more than 120 million people. They found 285,000 hidden TB cases with no symptoms and started treatment, cutting transmission and speeding recovery. Frontline healthcare workers delivered these tools across districts. India extended this model nationwide after 24 March 2025.
The Find.Treat.All initiative called for upfront molecular testing in 2018. Truenat enables that promise by bringing WHO-recommended diagnostics closer to communities and strengthening local lab capacity for multiple diseases, which also supports antimicrobial stewardship.
The Kochon Prize honors Molbio’s approach and the shared goal to reach the unreached.
Key Facts: Kochon Prize and Truenat
- Award date: 29 October 2025; venue: Manila (announced from Geneva)
- Prize value: US$65,000 plus medal
- First private innovator to win Kochon Prize
- ~90+ countries deploy Truenat; WHO endorsement: 2020
- India network: 9,000+ NAAT systems in public programme
- Multi-disease menu: ~40 tests, battery/solar operation
