IT Correspondent
New Delhi/ Mumbai , July 25:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) have approved an affordable RT-PCR based coronavirus COVID-19 diagnostic kit-” Corosure”, developed by the Indian Institute of Technology-IIT Delhi (IIT Delhi).
The kit which has been approved with very high sensitivity and specificity by ICMR and DCGI, was recently launched by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.
The base price of the RT-PCR assay is Rs 399. Even after adding the RNA isolation and laboratory charges, the cost per test will be considerably cheaper compared to the kits at present available in the market. The IIT Delhi has given license to 10 companies to manufacture the kit using the technology developed by its researchers. The kit has been developed indigenously and is much cheaper than other kits.
Pokhriyal said that “Corosure”, the probe-free diagnostic kit has been manufactured by Delhi NCR-based “Newtech Medical Devices”. He appreciated that a leading educational institution under the Union HRD ministry and a private company have joined hands to develop the kit, in the interest of the nation. It is expected to bring down the cost of COVID-19 RT-PCR testing.
The minister lauded the work done by the IIT Delhi researchers and congratulated everyone involved in the development and manufacturing of the kit. The Minister appreciated Prof. Vivekanandan Perumal and his research team–Prashant Pradhan (PhD Scholar), Ashutosh Pandey (PhD Scholar), Praveen Tripathi (PhD Scholar), Dr Akhilesh Mishra, Dr Parul Gupta, Dr Sonam Dhamija, Prof Manoj B Menon, Prof Bishwajit Kundu and Prof James Gomes.
Union Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre, Union Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare and senior officials were present during the launch.
On the occasion Dhotre said that innovation and entrepreneurship are complementary to each other, and are also most crucial for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and IITs have very robustly nurtured these two. This very low-cost diagnostic kit is a great feat that the IIT Delhi has achieved in such a short period.
