In January 2016, the NHS National Screening Committee (NSC) recommended that the Cervical Screening Programme should replace cytological screening with the molecular HPV test as the primary form of screening. It is expected that this molecular HPV screening test will be rolled-out nationally by December 2019. This is a positive move to a more accurate test, which could prevent around 600 cancers a year.
NHS England intends to consolidate provider laboratories to only 13 sites; a substantial reduction that will increase the number of samples routed to one of the selected testing sites. To meet this high demand, it is vital that these sites adopt an effective HPV screening assay and an instrument that allows rapid and accurate operation.
To cope with the increased volume of samples, Roche has developed its HPV DNA assay to be used on its high-throughput cobas 6800/8800 instruments. With the ability to run up to 960 tests in eight hours, this will enable laboratory staff to meet the increased testing demands with a trusted partner.
Roche has considerable experience in this area and its solution has been adopted in Australia, the Netherlands and in a number of other regional screening programmes internationally. It now offers two testing solutions, both of which achieve gold-standard rtPCR testing with clinically proven sensitivity and specificity, and the advantage of internal, automated controls to minimise the risk of false-negative results.
