The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has invited research proposals from academic institutions and non-governmental organisations to develop and validate new diagnostics and treatment regimens for tuberculosis (TB), as India intensifies efforts to eliminate the disease by 2030.
Under the ICMR TB Research Accelerator Programme, eligible institutions will receive funding to develop diagnostic tools, treatment strategies and other innovations aligned with the Centre’s target of eliminating TB as a public health threat by the end of the decade.
The funding call prioritises research across diagnostics, treatment, prevention and operational research. Key focus areas include rapid detection of drug-resistant TB, novel screening strategies, including artificial intelligence-based tools, new anti-TB drug discovery, and evidence-based approaches to nutritional support for TB patients.
ICMR has specified that only products and solutions with an established proof of concept will be considered for funding, signalling a focus on technologies that are ready for validation and scale-up.
Although India has made steady progress in reducing TB-related deaths, the disease remains the world’s leading cause of mortality from a single infectious agent. TB mortality in India declined from 28 deaths per lakh population in 2015 to 21 per lakh in 2024, according to official data.
The National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) aims to strengthen early diagnosis, case reporting, transmission control, treatment adherence and social support to achieve the country’s 2030 elimination target.
ICMR said accelerating the development of new diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and implementation research models remains central to this effort. The TB Research Accelerator Programme is designed to align scientific research with national programme priorities and speed up the translation of promising innovations into public health interventions.
The latest funding push comes months after an ICMR study found that shorter treatment regimens for drug-resistant tuberculosis significantly reduce treatment duration, adverse effects and mortality while also proving to be more cost-effective than conventional therapies.
The urgency is underscored by India’s drug-resistant TB burden. According to the latest India TB Report, the country recorded nearly 64,000 multidrug-resistant TB cases in 2023, accounting for almost one-third of the global caseload.
