Landscape analysis of commercially available and pipeline in vitro diagnostics for bacterial priority pathogens

This report maps the available and pipeline diagnostics to detect and identify WHO bacterial priority pathogens and to perform phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) or genotypic testing for antibacterial resistance; identifies gaps in the availability of, and access to, such diagnostics; and establishes a WHO research and development (R&D) priority list of diagnostics for further development that could be available for use across a variety of settings globally in the next three to five years. 

This 2025 report is an update to the first WHO Landscape analysis of commercially available and pipeline in vitro diagnostics for bacterial priority pathogens, published in 2019. The 2019 Landscape analysis concluded that the need for diagnostics included rapid tests that distinguish between bacterial and viral infections, tests for pathogen identification, and tests that detect antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance. This 2025 report examines how these diagnostic needs may have changed in the past five years, and in light of the recent update of the WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogen List (BPPL).  

This work is part of the WHO series of R&D landscape analyses that aim to identify gaps, trends and opportunities to steer the R&D of novel technologies. The work also fits within the WHO AMR Diagnostic Initiative, which includes a building block on research and innovation to improve precision, speed and usability of diagnostic tools for AMR.