In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS) technologies as an option for rapid, accurate genetic analysis and detection of genetic mutations to diagnose resistance to anti-tuberculosis (TB) medicines. Commercially available “End-to-End Solutions” of tNGS for the detection of drug resistance were included in the WHO assessment. Given the rapidly evolving field, the availability of novel enhancements to existing technologies and the development of new tNGS solutions, the WHO is planning to provide further updates.
To enable this process, WHO is issuing a public call for data, appealing to industry, researchers, national TB programmes and other agencies to provide suitable evidence on the performance of tNGS technologies. Such data will facilitate the WHO update within the scope of the current policy scheduled for the beginning of 2025.
Please send relevant data by 30st September 2024, to Alexei Korobitsyn at korobitsyna@who.int. For detailed information on the parameters of the datasets, variables, and the evaluation process WHO is planning to undertake please see Annex 1.