The World Health Organisation (WHO) has added a fourth test to the list of prequalified tests for human papillomavirus (HPV). Although most HPV infections clear up on their own, some high-risk types could lead to cervical cancer. Testing for HPV infection is an integral part of cervical cancer screening.

WHO’s prequalification (PQ) programme for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) evaluates a range of tests, including those used for the detection of high-risk HPV genotypes in cervical cancer screening.

The addition of another product to the PQ list expands the range of high-performance tests that are available to countries, especially in instances where governments, UN agencies, or partners rely on the WHO scheme to aid their procurement.

The recent addition of Roche Molecular Systems Inc.’s cobas HPV assay now brings the total number of listed tests up to four, joining QIAGEN GmBH’s careHPV Test, Abbott GmbH’s Abbott RealTime High Risk HPV, and Cepheid AB’s Xpert HPV.

Even in countries where the HPV vaccine is introduced, screening programmes remain critical to identify and treat cervical pre-cancer and cancer, to reduce cervical cancer incidence and deaths.