Roche launches new hepatitis B virus test for Cobas 4800 System

Roche has announced the launch of a new molecular diagnostic assay for its Cobas 4800 System for the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Europe.

The Cobas HBV assay expands the available virology menu on the system, improving system efficiency and providing testing flexibility to allow physicians to better assess a patient's response to antiviral therapy.

It will play a pivotal role in helping physicians and patients better manage disease caused by the hepatitis B virus. It detects the viral load circulating in a patient's blood, providing broad coverage of all known HBV genotypes, including pre-core mutations.

To increase flexibility for patient sample management, the new test also offers two sample processing volumes.

Paul Brown, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, said: "The state-of-the-art Cobas HBV assay enables clinicians to follow best practice in patient care with standardised viral load measurements, across a broad range of genotypes, with high sensitivity."

This comes after the firm launched its new Cobas HIV-1, HCV and HCV genotyping assays in November.