SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 28, 2025 — Cepheid announced that its Xpert® MTB/XDR test has been awarded prequalification status by the World Health Organization (WHO), marking a new milestone in the global fight against TB. This designation affirms the test’s compliance with the WHO’s rigorous standards for quality, safety, and performance, and enables procurement through international agencies.
Xpert MTB/XDR is designed to detect resistance to multiple first- and second-line TB drugs — including isoniazid, ethionamide, fluoroquinolones, amikacin, kanamycin, and capreomycin — directly from patient specimens. According to the WHO Consolidated Guidelines on Tuberculosis, fast and accurate testing is an essential step in the pathway of TB care. The guidelines note, “introduction of this test is likely to result in faster time to a result for genotypic DST [drug susceptibility testing] and could affect cost–effectiveness by improving the numbers of patients initiating treatment, reducing loss to follow-up and improving survival rates.” According to WHO, patients in high burden TB settings value getting an accurate diagnosis, reaching diagnostic closure, and avoiding diagnostic delays “because they [delays] exacerbate existing financial hardships and emotional and physical suffering”.
Read the full company press release here.
For more TB updates, check out the TB CAB Weekly Newsletter (Issue #33, 31 October 2025).
The newsletter is brought to you by the Global TB Community Advisory Board (TB CAB) with the support of Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). Subscribe to the newsletter here.
Source : Cepheid
Related HIV and Co-Infections News
Get involved
Are you living with HIV/AIDS? Are you part of a community affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections? Do you work or volunteer in the field? Are you motivated by our cause and interested to support our work?
Subscribe
Stay in the loop and get all the important EATG updates in your inbox with the EATG newsletter. The HIV & co-infections bulletin is your source of handpicked news from the field arriving regularly to your inbox.