The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on Friday, said it has developed an antibody detection-based kit, the DIPAS-VDx COVID 19 IgG Antibody Microwell ELISA or DIPCOVAN. The kit can be used for sero-surveillance for detecting the presence of Covid antibodies amongst the population.
DRDO said the kit can detect spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97% & specificity of 99%. The kit will be helpful in assessing Covid-19 epidemiology and gauging a person's previous exposure to the infection.
DIPCOVAN was developed indigenously by DRDO scientists and has been tested on over 1,000 patient samples at various Covid hospitals in Delhi. DRDO said three batches of the product had been validated during the last year. DRDO added that the kit offers a faster turn-around time as results can be obtained in just 75 minutes. The kit has a shelf life of 18 months.
While the antibody detection kit was approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) last month, this month the product has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to manufacture for sale and distribution. The product has been developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based development and manufacturing diagnostics company. At the time of launch, readily available stock will be 100 kits, which would contain approximately 10,000 tests, with a production capacity of 500/kits per month after the launch. The kit will be available at INR 75 per test.
Sero surveillance is conducted to ascertain the spread of Covid-19 in an area.
Recently, DRDO also launched the 2-DG drug which was cleared by the DCGI for emergency use to treat moderate to severe Covid patients. The drug has to be administered upon prescription to moderate to hospitalised Covid patients. The 2-DG drug was developed by DRDO's Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in collaboration with Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical giant Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL).
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