A European multicenter study on the analytical performance of the VERIS HBV assay.

Background: Hepatitis B viral load monitoring is an essential part of managing patients with chronic Hepatits B infection. Beckman Coulter has developed the VERIS HBV Assay for use on the fully automated Beckman Coulter DxN VERIS Molecular Diagnostics System. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the analytical performance of the VERIS HBV Assay at multiple European virology laboratories.

Study Design: Precision, analytical sensitivity, negative sample performance, linearity and performance with major HBV genotypes/subtypes for the VERIS HBV Assay was evaluated.

Results: Precision showed an SD of 0.15 log IU/mL or less for each level tested. Analytical sensitivity determined by probit analysis was between 6.8-8.0 IU/mL. Clinical specificity on 90 unique patient samples was 100.0%. Performance with 754 negative samples demonstrated 100.0% not detected results, and a carryover study showed no cross contamination. Linearity using clinical samples was shown from 1.23-8.23 log IU/mL and the assay detected and showed linearity with major HBV genotypes/subtypes.

Conclusions: The VERIS HBV Assay demonstrated comparable analytical performance to other currently marketed assays for HBV DNA monitoring.