Innovative COVID-19 Point-of-Care Diagnostics Suitable for Tuberculosis Diagnosis: A Scoping Review

Rapid and accurate point-of-care (POC) tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics are crucial to bridge the TB diagnostic gap. Leveraging recent advancements in COVID-19 diagnostics, we explored adapting commercially available POC SARS-CoV-2 tests for TB diagnosis in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) target product profiles (TPPs). A scoping review was conducted following PRISMA-ScR guidelines to systematically map POC antigen and molecular SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests potentially meeting the TPPs for TB diagnostic tests for peripheral settings. Data were gathered from PubMed/MEDLINE, bioRxiv, medRxiv, publicly accessible in vitro diagnostic test databases, and developer websites up to 23 November 2022. Data on developer attributes, operational characteristics, pricing, clinical performance, and regulatory status were charted using standardized data extraction forms and evaluated with a standardized scorecard. A narrative synthesis of the data is presented. Our search yielded 2003 reports, with 408 meeting eligibility criteria. Among these, we identified 66 commercialized devices: 22 near-POC antigen tests, 1 POC molecular test, 31 near-POC molecular tests, and 12 low-complexity molecular tests potentially adaptable for TB. The highest-scoring SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests were the near-POC antigen platform LumiraDx (Roche, Basel, Switzerland), the POC molecular test Lucira Check-It (Pfizer, New York, NY, USA), the near-POC molecular test Visby (Visby, San Jose, CA, USA), and the low-complexity molecular platform Idylla (Biocartis, Lausanne, Switzerland). We highlight a diverse landscape of commercially available diagnostic tests suitable for potential adaptation to peripheral TB testing. This work aims to bolster global TB initiatives by fostering stakeholder collaboration, leveraging SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic technologies for TB, and uncovering new commercial avenues to tackle longstanding challenges in TB diagnosis.