In a major boost to India’s fight against tuberculosis (TB), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated two indigenously developed diagnostic tools that promise to strengthen the country’s testing capacity and make detection more affordable and accessible.
Early, accurate, and widespread diagnosis remains the cornerstone of TB elimination efforts, as timely detection enables rapid treatment initiation and helps prevent community transmission.
Among the newly validated innovations is the Quantiplus MTB FAST detection kit, developed by Huwel Lifesciences in Telangana. According to the ICMR, Quantiplus is the first open-system RT-PCR assay validated for TB detection. Unlike conventional proprietary systems, it can be operated on any existing PCR machine, allowing laboratories across India to expand rapid molecular TB testing without needing specialized closed platforms.
“This means, laboratories across India, even those without specialised ‘closed’ equipment, can now expand rapid molecular TB testing using standard PCR machines,” a source explained.
Quantiplus can process up to 96 samples simultaneously, using sputum specimens from adults. This innovation is expected to reduce the cost of TB testing by nearly 80%, significantly expanding testing capacity in both public and private laboratories. By eliminating the need for expensive new machines, it empowers public health facilities to scale up testing more cost-effectively and reach underserved populations.
The second validated innovation, also developed by Huwel Lifesciences, is the UniAMP MTB Nucleic Acid Test Card. This new tool marks a milestone in patient-friendly diagnostics, enabling TB testing using non-invasive tongue swabs instead of sputum samples, which are often difficult to collect—especially from children and elderly patients.
Traditionally, TB diagnosis has relied on invasive sputum collection, but tongue swabs provide a comfortable, non-invasive alternative that opens the door for doorstep TB diagnosis and large-scale community screening, thereby expanding access to life-saving TB care.
“Through ICMR’s rigorous and streamlined validation process, we are ensuring that innovative TB diagnostics are validated quickly. This effort reflects India’s resolve to strengthen indigenous research and innovation, close gaps in early detection and treatment, and ultimately help the country to move closer to eliminating tuberculosis as a public health challenge,” said Dr. Nivedita Gupta, Head of the Communicable Diseases Division at ICMR.
These new tools complement earlier upgrades to existing technologies such as Truenat and PathoDetect, which have already helped decentralize high-precision Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAAT). The addition of Quantiplus and UniAMP represents a next step in India’s TB innovation ecosystem, encompassing lab-based systems, decentralized testing, and non-sputum-based point-of-care diagnostics.
If deployed at scale, these technologies could be gamechangers—making TB testing faster, cheaper, and more accessible to the millions who need it most.