New Collaboration to Evaluate Low-Cost TB Test Aims to Improve Detection in Developing Countries

A new collaboration will evaluate the feasibility of a low-cost, image-based tuberculosis (TB) screening platform to improve accuracy and detect more TB cases in developing countries.

The feasibility project has been undertaken by BD Diagnostics, a segment of Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD; Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND; Geneva, Switzerland). The screening platform provides ease-of-use and semi-quantitative automated results that improve accuracy by standardizing LED microscopy and eliminating associated user subjectivity. This diagnostic advancement has the potential to streamline the detection process and detect more TB cases when compared to conventional microscopy and centralized laboratory molecular diagnostic testing methods.

“BD’s image-based technology will enable simpler, more accurate detection and will enhance TB detection among HIV-TB co-infected populations where microscopy screening may be inadequate. We believe this new technology will play a key part in reaching the missing millions of patients who currently escape TB diagnosis,” said Renuka Gadde, vice president, Global Health, BD. As TB infection rates are rising exponentially in countries heavily burdened by HIV/AIDS, it is critical to address the risk of TB co-infection in a timely manner. The new TB screening platform aims to more accurately identify smear negative and otherwise culture positive patients within 10 minutes of running the test.

BD and FIND are committed to stopping the spread of TB, especially multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB drugs. Second-line drugs are only registered for use to treat MDR-TB when there is resistance to first-line therapy. The WHO estimates that although the number of people detected with rapid diagnostics tests is increasing dramatically, 3 out of 4 people estimated to have MDR-TB worldwide are still not detected. “The bad news is that MDR-TB is a public health crisis – the health sector urgently needs rapid, accurate, and affordable diagnostics to help detect the disease and to help preserve the effectiveness of the few drugs that really work – the good news is that this new tool has some real potential to do that,” said Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND.

FIND is dedicated to developing affordable, easy-to-use, cutting edge diagnostic tests for the poorest societies. From proof of principle to putting new tests into practice, the organization works with diverse groups. The not-for-profit foundation is ISO certified and financed by both the private and public sectors.

BD and FIND will also collaborate to expand and complete a pricing agreement to provide access to laboratory-use only reagents, which may be evaluated for potential use by TB laboratories.

Related Links:
Becton, Dickinson and Company
Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND)