Lay User Evaluation of the Panbio™ HCV Self Test in an EU Population

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The virus can cause both acute and chronic disease, ranging in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness. Globally, around 50 million people per year are living with HCV, resulting in 244,000 deaths. The WHO estimates that only 36% of individuals chronically infected with HCV are diagnosed, and the WHO HCV targets include increasing the diagnoses to 90% by 2030. WHO guidelines, published in 2021, strongly recommend offering self-testing for HCV as an additional approach to HCV testing services. The Panbio™ HCV Self Test, is a lateral flow test, designed for the qualitative detection of antibodies specific to HCV in finger-stick whole blood. The test is designed to be used by lay users and uses a sample volume of 10 µL. The professional use version test (Bioline™ HCV Test) is commercially available and has previously been clinically validated by the manufacturer, demonstrating a sensitivity of 99.3-100% and a specificity of 98.1-100%. Evaluation of the test performance when used by professional users has been conducted, and evaluation of lay user sensitivity and specificity based on lay user populations outside the EU is being conducted. This study will demonstrate the test performance and usability of the test when used in a European lay user population. The study will be conducted at one recruiting hospital in Spain.