Q1. Across Asia-Pacific, infectious disease diagnostics are evolving rapidly. From QIAGEN’s perspective, what are the most significant changes you are seeing in how healthcare systems approach infectious disease testing and clinical decision-making today?
Across APAC, we are witnessing a fundamental paradigm shift: diagnostics are increasingly being viewed as part of the clinical decision process, rather than some laboratory test that happens in parallel or after the fact.
The most significant change is the move toward faster, more comprehensive diagnostic pathways that support clinical decisions within the same care window. In a region as diverse as APAC, healthcare systems are increasingly prioritizing approaches that eliminate 'diagnostic guesswork.' The shift toward highly multiplexed syndromic testing has reduced time-to-result and enabled clinicians to differentiate causes of infection earlier, supporting high-confidence decisions across a wide range of care settings.
Q2. Many infectious diseases present with overlapping symptoms, making clinical differentiation challenging. How is this reality changing diagnostic strategies in hospitals and laboratories across the region?
This is about Managing Institutional Risk. In the past, clinical uncertainty led to 'watchful waiting' or broad-spectrum empirical treatments, which inadvertently strained hospital resources and fueled antimicrobial resistance. Today, laboratories are strengthening diagnostic confidence earlier in the care process by adopting end-to-end automated workflows. Rather than simply running tests, they are generating high-value diagnostic intelligence that streamlines the entire patient journey. For hospital administrators in APAC, this translates to improved bed management, optimized pharmacy costs, and a more resilient healthcare delivery model.
Q3. Tuberculosis remains a major burden in many APAC countries. Based on your experience, where do healthcare systems face the most critical gaps in TB testing and long-term disease management today?
Tuberculosis remains a significant challenge in Asia, and the most critical gap we see is the disconnection between detection and long-term care.
In high-burden areas, timely and reliable testing is still a hurdle. We need to move away from legacy methods toward modern, high-accuracy tools like IGRA that can provide certainty in a single visit.
Because TB treatment takes 6 to 9 months, even a successful diagnosis can fail if the healthcare infrastructure cannot support the patient until the end. Closing these gaps requires more than just testing; it requires a seamless linkage to care. A reliable diagnostic foundation is essential to ensuring that patients are not just diagnosed, but are successfully supported through their entire recovery journey.
Q4. TB infection is gaining increased attention as part of TB control strategies. From an implementation and industry perspective, why has latent TB screening become more central, particularly in high-burden Asian markets?
The increased focus on TB infection reflects a recognition that controlling active disease alone is not sufficient. TB infection represents a large pool of individuals who may progress to active disease if left unaddressed.
What has changed in recent years is that screening strategies have become more feasible to implement at scale, supported by updated international guidance and more streamlined testing approaches. In high-burden settings, this makes it more realistic to extend screening beyond narrow use cases and integrate it into broader prevention efforts, particularly among defined risk groups.
This represents a critical opportunity: replacing manual, multi-visit screening with efficient, automated blood-based approaches can help healthcare systems move from simply managing a crisis to actively accelerating the end of the epidemic.
Q5. Asia-Pacific is highly diverse in terms of healthcare infrastructure. What are the most important considerations when scaling molecular diagnostics across central laboratories, regional hospitals, and more decentralized settings?
As many regional labs face staffing shortages and space constraints, we cannot rely on complex, manual protocols. The industry must move toward 'Sample to Insight’ workflows that allow generalist staff to deliver expert-level results without extensive retraining.
Furthermore, scalability depends on minimizing hands-on complexity and eliminating 'batching delays' that can undercut clinical value. Our focus is on providing a standardized diagnostic foundation. By integrating simplified, automated workflows into real-world lab routines, the goal is to ensure that a patient in a remote regional hospital can receive the same standard of diagnostic precision as one in a major urban hub. Ultimately, successful scaling is about making high-complexity science accessible and reliable in any setting.
Q6. When healthcare providers evaluate new diagnostic technologies, what clinical and operational outcomes most strongly influence adoption decisions, such as workflow efficiency, diagnostic confidence, or overall impact on patient care?
When we discuss adoption, we aren't just talking about technical metrics; we are talking about 'Clinical Utility' and its impact on the healthcare economy. The most decisive factor is whether a diagnostic tool provides 'Actionable Intelligence.' In my view, speed is only valuable if it changes the clinical outcome. If a result arrives fast enough to shift a patient from broad-spectrum to treatment within the 'Golden Hour,' it doesn't just improve lab efficiency. It drives Antimicrobial Stewardship and reduces the total Cost of Care by optimizing ICU resources.
In many APAC markets, healthcare providers are asked to do more with less. Simplified, automated workflows that eliminate hidden manual costs and batching delays can help hospitals build a more resilient operational model. Ultimately, the technologies that achieve broad adoption are those that demonstrably protect both the patient’s health and the provider’s operational health simultaneously.
Q7. Looking ahead, how do you see molecular diagnostics evolving in Asia—not as isolated tests, but as part of an integrated diagnostic strategy supporting both acute response and long-term infectious disease management
Our vision is to build a sample to Insight diagnostic ecosystem where data translates directly into immediate clinical action. In acute care settings, the focus is on eliminating clinical uncertainty so that from the very first hour a patient enters a hospital, they can receive the most precise treatment possible. For chronic diseases like Tuberculosis, the priority is ‘proactive prevention’—identifying risks before they progress to life-threatening stages.
Achieving this vision requires ongoing collaboration between industry, clinicians, and health authorities across Asia. Whether in a major central hub or a small community clinic, the shared objective is to advance technological innovation and the rollout of standardized workflows. The overarching goal is to ensure that every patient, regardless of location, has access to the same standard of precision diagnostics, ultimately leading to faster recovery and a healthier future.
