Qiagen, a Germany-based provider of molecular sample and assay technologies, announced the commercial launch of its QuantiFERON-TB Gold, a blood test that accurately identifies people infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, in China on Wednesday.

The product was awarded China Food and Drug Administration approval in December. Qiagen already sells QuantiFERON-TB in many markets, including the United States and Europe.

"We are selling the product in major hospitals in China first, and will promote the test to more primary hospitals," Liu Jingjie, the global product manager at Qiagen, said at a press briefing.

Chinahas an estimated 1 million reported new cases of active TB each year, more than any country except India, according to the World Health Organization.

Based on a previous survey, an estimated 550 million people in China, 41 percent of the population, are infected with the TB bacterium. Left untreated, 5 to 10 percent of these people will develop the active disease during their lifetimes, often when they experience weakened immunity due to other health issues, according to Masae Kawamura, senior director of scientific and medical affairs at the company.

"The use of QuantiFERON-TB to screen vulnerable populations is growing rapidly in the US, Europe and other markets, and we are focusing on this important product as one of Qiagen’s global growth drivers," said Peer Schatz, Qiagen’s chief executive officer.

Big Hep.B vaccine makers stop production	Pharmaceutical industry needs shot of innovation