Gates will join the Soros Economic Development Fund in a deal to buy Mologic, the UK-based lateral flow test developer which has created 10-minute Covid tests. It is hoped that the tests will cost as little as $1 to produce. The covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that lateral flow tests, previously most commonly used for pregnancy tests, can be used to mass test populations for a range of other diseases.
Gates and the Soros Economic Development Fund will put £30 million into Mologic, focusing on the affordable development of rapid testing for tropical diseases, and taking the company on from current owners Calculus Capital and Foresight Group LLP. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will join the Mologic investment as the charitable fund undergoes a major reshuffle amid the divorce of its founders.
Mologic was founded back in 2003 by Paul Davis and his son. Davis was one of the original developers of ClearBlue pregnancy tests which are now widely used across the globe. Following the deal with Gates and Soros, Mologic will come to be known as Global Access Health.
