US-based Illumina Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, and French firm GenoScreen, have launched a package combining Illumina products and the GenoScreen Deeplex Myc-TB assay, a targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) based test for the rapid and extensive detection of anti-TB drug resistance. This will help advance the World Health Organization’s (WHO) strategy to end the global TB epidemic by 2035.

This latest in NGS innovation, is part of a partnership between Illumina and Genoscreen announced last year to accelerate progress to end TB worldwide. The partnership is expanding capabilities for countries most impacted by tuberculosis, including India, to more effectively detect and combat multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

Standard culture-based testing methods currently incur turnaround times of up to two months, and conventional molecular assays are limited in identifying drug resistance. The combined use of the GenoScreen Deeplex Myc-TB assay and the Illumina NGS platforms allows much more rapid determination of extensive drug resistance profiles and TB strain types.

Implementing NGS testing will also benefit national TB programmes around the world by providing critical surveillance data about resistance to different anti-TB drugs—important information for high-burden countries to guide TB control strategies.