HPV High-Risk Test Approved for Use in The Netherlands Population Cervical Screening Programme

Hologic, Inc, a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostics products, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women, have announced that the NVVP (Netherlands Society for Pathology) has approved the use of the Hologic Cervista HPV HR test for detecting human papillomavirus in the Dutch national cervical screening programme.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and is recognised as the cause of most cervical cancers. To help prevent the onset of disease, the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in The Netherlands) suggests routine Pap testing and HPV HR triage for ASCUS/LSIL testing for women over the age of 30 to identify women most likely to develop cervical cancer.

"We are extremely excited to enter the Netherlands Cervical Screening Programme with our Hologic Cervista HPV HR test for detecting HPV," said Rohan Hastie, PhD, Hologic Vice President & General Manager of Diagnostics. "The Cervista HPV HR test includes an internal control intended to verify adequate cellularity for testing, thus reducing the potential for false negative results," Dr. Hastie added. "Because it requires a smaller specimen volume, this test may minimise inconclusive or indeterminate results, which may lead to fewer patients being called back for repeat testing. More importantly, the test is designed to minimise false positive results due to a low-risk HPV strain being mistakenly recognised as a high-risk HPV strain, thereby potentially reducing unnecessary clinical management and patient anxiety. The test is built on redundancy and focused on the L1/E6E7 region so it protects against false negative outcomes in the event of L1 deletion."