Healseq

Problem: The standard first-line TB treatment typically lasts for approximately 6 to 9 months. However, some patients do not respond to this first-line of treatment as the TB bacteria have become drug resistant. In the last two years, about 1.15 lakh people were detected with drug resistant TB (DR-TB) with fatalities accounting for about 20% of the detected patients. The ‘low responders’ to standard first-line TB treatment have a high chance of severe consequences, like organ failure, high probability of catching multiple drug resistance and, even, death. It also leads to increased risk of community transmission of DR-TB. In these drug-resistant cases, the patient must be switched to second-line treatment as soon as possible. Rapid diagnosis of drug resistance is a key step to make this happen. As per the current protocols, the effectiveness of TB treatment and thus presence of DR-TB is realised about four months following treatment initiation. Patients have to undergo multiple tests to determine drug resistance that leads to delay in administration of 2^nd line drug therapy and fatality linked to the disease. Diagnosing drug sensitivity needs intensive tools like culture preparation, LPA and cost ~ INR 6000. Often, this leads to late diagnosis and is one of the key reasons for the increase in incidence of DR-TB and fatality linked to the disease.

Solution: To shrink these timelines for diagnosis of DR-TB, IHF engaged HealSeq Precision Medicine Private Limited. HealSeq’s host RNA biomarker-based blood test can accurately detect drug resistance from TB patients as early as two weeks after treatment initiation. The abundance of these RNA signature genes can help physicians to classify patients as good-, intermediate- or poor-responders to the treatment. Intermediate- or poor-responders, diagnosed as DR-TB patients, can be immediately shifted to second-line therapies. This is a breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of DR-TB as it has the potential to significantly speed up diagnosis, guide fast clinical decision of shifting to 2^nd-line therapies, treatment initiation and thus curtail the spread of the disease.

Impact: This easy-to-administer test, once developed, will be available at ~INR 1000 per test, which is 1/6th the cumulative cost of the multiple tests that need to be taken during the TB treatment course. The test itself takes ~ 12-24 hours turnaround time vs. current methods that take 4-6 weeks. Moreover, the technology is a platform solution and can also be used to detect Sepsis, extra pulmonary TB and Cancer. Healseq has completed product development and the test is being currently evaluated using TB patient samples from five tertiary hospitals in Karnataka.