NGeneBio said Wednesday that it delivered a lecture on the latest trends in tuberculosis diagnostic testing to a group of Ukrainian TB specialists.

The lecture was part of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)’s global training program for “Capacity-building courses on diagnosing and treating pulmonary tuberculosis and non-tuberculous antimicrobial lung diseases in Ukraine” at the GC Labs.

Ukraine is experiencing an increase in the number of multidrug-resistant TB patients due to the prolonged war, which delays the diagnosis and treatment of TB patients. It needs the latest and most accurate TB diagnostic tests.

Kim Ji-yeon, head of the Diagnostic Development Headquarters at NGeneBio, introduced the latest trends in TB diagnostics and the NGS technology-based MTBaccuPanel product, which has received the European In Vitro Diagnostic Certification (CE-IVD). MTBaccuPanel diagnoses tuberculosis (M.TB) infection and detects more than 180 non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and 18 multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/XDR) in a single NGS test. While conventional TB diagnosis requires two to eight weeks or more for culture and PCR tests, NGS tests can provide results in two days, reducing healthcare costs.

“The incidence of TB in Europe is increasing due to increased population migration between Europe and Africa, and TB is still a major infectious disease control target in Asia, which has a TB eradication program,” NGeneBio CEO Choi Dae-chul said, “We are responding to the growing demand for fast and accurate TB diagnostic products in Asia and Europe, and are working to enter the TB eradication program in India through a technology transfer agreement with EuroAlliance (EA) and joint ventures in India and the United Arab Emirates.”