ICMR wins 2017 Kochon Prize for TB Research

 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has won the  2017 Kochon Prize  for building a tradition of excellence in TB research and development.

ICMR and several of its research groups like NIRT, JALMA and India TB Research Consortium are engaged in TB research, and some of them for a very long time. Kochon Prize to ICMR recognises decades of ground-breaking TB research by India, which shaped the global DOTS strategy

ICMR 

• ICMR is the apex body in India that formulates and coordinates the biochemical research. Funded by Government of India, ICMR is the largest and one of the oldest research bodies in the world. It works under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• ICMR has 26 National Institutes and 6 regional centres. National Institutes research on specific health topics like tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera and diarrhoeal diseases, viral diseases including AIDS, malaria, kala-azar, vector control, nutrition, food & drug toxicology, reproduction while the regional centres address themselves to regional health problems, and also aim to strengthen or generate research capabilities in different geographic areas of the country.

Kochon Prize

• The Kochon Prize is awarded annually by Stop TB Partnership to individuals and/or organizations for their significant contribution to combat TB. It endowed by the Kochon Foundation, a non-profit foundation registered in the Republic of Korea, consists of a USD $65,000 award.
• The Kochon Prize was established in 2006 in honour of the late Chairman Chong-Kun Lee (left), founder of the Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corporation and Kochon Foundation in Korea, who was committed throughout his career to improving access to low-cost lifesaving antibiotics and anti-TB drugs. "Kochon" was a pen name that he used.