The Indian Council of Medical Research approved another coronavirus RT-PCR diagnostic kit made in India for use. Dubbed the GlobalTM Diagnostic Kit, it has been developed by Equine Biotech, a startup founded by a faculty member of the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc).
The test takes about an hour and a half to confirm the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in patient samples, said Utpal Tatu, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, IISc and founder of Equine Biotech. The kit is much cheaper and more reliable than those in use today, the manufacturers said.
“Our startup has been working on testing for coronavirus infections for many years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic started. This experience has helped us design the kit for COVID-19,” Tatu said.
This “Sensitive, Fast, and Affordable COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit” is easy to use with 100 percent specificity, depending on startup. The test kit shows relatively faster results than those available on the market, IISc said in a statement.
“Equine Biotech is seeking to license the above kit for large-scale manufacturing and sale,” the statement added. “The agreement would involve technology transfer and support in the manufacture of kits. We are looking for medical technology companies with experience in the distribution and commercialization of diagnostic kits,” he added.
Previously, the Comptroller General of Drugs of India (DCGI) approved the commercial launch of India’s first regularly interspaced clustered short palindromic repeat coronavirus test (CRISPR) ‘Feluda’. The test kit was developed by the Tata Group and CSIR-IGIB (Institute for Genomics and Integrative Biology).
“This test uses a state-of-the-art CRISPR technology developed in the country for the detection of the genomic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. CRISPR is a genome-editing technology to diagnose diseases,” the ministry of science and technology said in a release.
“The Tata CRISPR test is the world’s first diagnostic test that implements a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus that causes COVID-19,” he added.
“The Tata CRISPR test achieves the precision levels of traditional RT-PCR tests, with faster response time, less expensive equipment, and greater ease of use. Additionally, CRISPR is a futuristic technology that can also be configured to detection of many other pathogens in the future, ‘he further said.
The total number of COVID-19 tests conducted in India surpassed the 7 crore mark on Saturday, the central government said. A total of 85,362 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country. The total number of COVID-19 recoveries rose to 48,49,584 on Saturday. At least 93,420 patients were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours.
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