Gold standard test for latent tuberculosis infection will be covered by national health insurance
HILDEN, Germany, and PARIS, June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that France’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has approved reimbursement by the national health insurance system for QIAGEN’s QuantiFERON-TB® Gold Plus (QFT-Plus®) to screen at-risk individuals for latent tuberculosis infection.
The French decision to reimburse interferon-gamma release assays for TB screening includes QIAGEN’s QFT Plus, the leading IGRA test worldwide. QuantiFERON is faster, less labor-intensive and more accurate in screening at-risk populations for latent TB infection than the century-old tuberculin skin test. Previously, QuantiFERON-TB tests have been available in France only if purchased by hospitals or public health centers for health care worker screening or on a non-reimbursed or private-pay basis. After implementation of the new reimbursement code, the health system’s reimbursement for QFT will be approximately 45 euros per test. France joins a growing number of countries in Europe that are reimbursing QFT, including Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
“Adoption of QuantiFERON-TB Gold-Plus by France is a major advance in patient-centered TB screening. Replacing the inaccurate tuberculin skin test with the QFT blood test removes the false-positive results skin tests produce directly due to BCG vaccination, making the QFT-Plus result more accurate and believable to both the provider and the patient. This is key for TB elimination efforts in BCG-vaccinating countries like France, where replacement of the skin test with QFT-Plus will impact key decisions on preventive treatment,” said Dr. Masae Kawamura, Senior Director, TB Medical and Scientific Affairs, at QIAGEN.
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SOURCE QIAGEN
