QIAGEN’s plans to advance QuantiFERON latent TB testing
QIAGEN unveiled plans to advance its QuantiFERON latent tuberculosis (TB) test with a new fully automated Sample to Insight workflow and a separate AI-enabled risk stratification tool for TB progression, building on growing adoption of Diasorin LIAISON detection systems and a new automation partnership with Inpeco.
These developments are intended to help higher-throughput labs scale testing as screening demand for latent TB continues to grow. QIAGEN estimates the global latent TB testing market at approximately 75 million tests annually, growing about 4% to 5% per year. Only about 40% of this market has converted from traditional skin tests to modern blood-based interferon-gamma release assay, or IGRA, testing.
Planned for launch in late 2027, this new workflow is designed for customers using Diasorin LIAISON systems aiming to automate the complete latent TB testing process without routine manual operator intervention, from preanalytical tube handling and incubation with Inpeco to detection on LIAISON systems.
Through its partnership with Inpeco, QIAGEN is advancing total laboratory automation for QuantiFERON IGRA testing. The collaboration brings two purpose-built innovations, a dedicated QuantiFERON aliquoting system and an intelligent incubation system, fully integrated into the track to enable a seamless end-to-end automated workflow.
Separately, QIAGEN is developing an AI-enabled QuantiFERON risk stratification tool designed to analyze quantitative QuantiFERON results from all laboratory workflows, with initial customer use also targeted for late 2027.
The Inpeco partnership comes as QIAGEN and Diasorin continue to see strong customer adoption of LIAISON QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus II.
By enabling full automation of the QuantiFERON IGRA workflow, laboratories can decouple volume growth from staffing requirements, reduce hands-on time by up to 80% and transition to continuous, real-time processing. These capabilities are expected to significantly improve turnaround time, operational efficiency and scalability for high-throughput laboratories and larger testing networks.
The AI-enabled QuantiFERON risk stratification tool for TB progression is in development with the goal of helping stratify patients at higher risk of progression to active TB disease. The tool is built on one of the largest longitudinal TB clinical datasets, comprising about 13 million de-identified patient records collected over the last 10 years, and is intended to support healthcare professionals in making more informed decisions, improving patient counseling and supporting enhanced patient care.
This new insight layer is intended to use quantitative results from QuantiFERON tubes, leveraging the unique status as the only test with a patent-protected, optimized approach to explore CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses along with other parameters to deliver a more complete view of the immune response to TB.
QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus is differentiated by its ability to capture both CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses to TB-specific antigens. CD4 responses provide the established foundation for detecting TB infection. CD8 responses add biologically meaningful information, particularly for patients who are immunocompromised or may be prescribed biologic medicines, patient groups that are among the fastest-growing categories for latent TB testing.
The combination of these immune-response signals create a rich data foundation for QIAGEN’s AI-enabled analysis strategy. The goal is to provide clinicians with more valuable insights when reviewing a patient’s infection status and evaluating potential risk of progression to active TB.
