NEW YORK (360Dx) – Qiagen and DiaSorin said on Monday that their jointly developed automated workflow for latent tuberculosis testing has received CE marking.
Under a partnership announced earlier this year, the companies developed the Liaison QuantiFeron-TB Plus workflow, which involves processing Qiagen's QuantiFeron-TB Gold Plus Blood Collection Tubes (QFT-Plus BCT) on DiaSorin's Liaison immunodiagnostic instruments.
The QFT-Plus BCTs contain key components of the test reaction that is performed in-tube after blood collection, while the QuantiFeron test measures the release of interferon gamma after in-tube incubation. Customers using the new workflow for Liaison systems will purchase the detection components from DiaSorin and the blood collection tube kits from Qiagen.
The launch provides QFT-Plus customers in Europe with an option for full automation of latent TB testing to support control efforts, the companies noted. More than 7,000 Liaison systems have been placed worldwide, primarily in hospital laboratories, the companies said.
The collaboration can provide a "unique solution to the current [latent TB] test demand" in labs worldwide, Carlo Rosa, CEO of DiaSorin Group, said in a statement. "Our existing Liaison platform installed base, combined with the launch of our new CLIA platform, Liaison XS, in early 2019, will provide new labs the opportunity to approach this relevant testing routine with a very robust and fully automated solution."
The companies said that workflow availability is planned for the US in 2019 and China in 2020.
Qiagen also recently signed a collaboration agreement with Hamilton Robotics to further improve the automation of QFT-Plus through the integration of Hamilton's Microlab Star automated liquid handling workstation. This preanalytical automation solution can be potentially combined with DiaSorin instrumentation, Qiagen said.