QIAGEN (QGEN) To Win U. N. Accolade For QuantiFERON-TB Access

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) recently announced that it is going to gain recognition from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for its QuantiFERON-TB Access, a new solution aimed at diagnosing latent tuberculosis (TB) infection in low-resource regions with a high incidence rate of the disease. The event is currently underway at UNAIDS’ Health Innovation Exchange.

This marks a significant step forward for the company’s progress in the field of tuberculosis diagnosis.

About the QuantiFERON-TB Access

QuantiFERON-TB Access (QFT Access) is a proprietary new test, designed with the aim of advancing tuberculosis prevention in areas with limited infrastructure and resources. These regions are mostly countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America with a high disease burden of tuberculosis.

QFT Access combines highly sensitive digital detection with a complete workflow, designed to deliver cost-efficient outcomes with speed and simplicity. It eradicates the requirement for an extensive laboratory infrastructure while providing the most top-notch QuantiFERON technology. Clinical trials are being conducted in 2019 and the commercialization of QFT Access is estimated to start from 2020 onward.

QFT Access comes close on the heels of the success of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus, currently the most superior method for detection of latent TB infection.

QIAGEN is currently developing QuantiFERON-TB Access in collaboration with Ellume, an Australian developer of digitally-enabled diagnostics.

Market Prospects

Per a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 9,287 new TB cases were diagnosed across the United States in 2016. According to Research and Markets data published on Business Wire, the TB market is expected to see a CAGR of 4.3-4.8% between 2016 and 2022.

Recent Developments

Of late, QIAGEN has been initiating several developments related to QuantiFERON-TB, which are expected to strengthen its foothold in the TB diagnosis market.

In early 2019, QIAGEN reached a new milestone, crossing 60 million tests administered since the launch of QuantiFERON-TB.

The company is now on track to deliver about 12 million tests annually. QIAGEN has established strategic partnerships with Hamilton and Tecan for the pre-analytical handling of blood tubes and with DiaSorin for the declaration of test results on their LIAISON platform. The alliance with DiaSorin provides an effective automation solution while also embedding its QuantiFERON-TB test into the platform of LIAISON.

Price Performance

In the past three months, shares of QIAGEN have outperformed the industry it belongs to. The stock has increased 9.7% compared with the industry’s rise of 0.7%.

Zacks Ranks and Key Picks

QIAGEN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI) , CONMED (NASDAQ:CNMD) and DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY) , each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Masimo’s long-term earnings growth rate is projected at 16.1%

CONMED’s long-term earnings growth rate is expected at 13.3%.

DENTSPLY SIRONA’s long-term earnings growth rate is predicted at 11.5%.

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