Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi’s Kusuma School of Biological Sciences have developed the “world’s most affordable” Covid-19 testing kit. The testing kit has been named Corosure and it will be available at authorised testing facilities across the country.
The kit was e-launched by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Wednesday. While the base price of the kit has been kept at ₹399, a diagnostic test using ‘Corosure’ will cost up to ₹650.
According to the team of developers, ‘Corosure’ is a “probe-free” testing kit, while other methods available are ‘Probe-based”, which reduces the cost of testing without compromising on the accuracy.
RT-PCR (Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test is the most widely used and reliable test to detect novel coronavirus, which costs somewhere between ₹2,200 and ₹3,000.
This indigenous test kit developed by IIT can help ramp up India’s testing facilities.
After retaining an approval by the Indian Medical Council of India and Drug Control General of India, ‘Corosure’ was commercially developed by a company named NewTech Medical Devises after obtaining a license from the IIT.
NewTech Medical Devises announced that they will manufacture 2 million kits by next month. While launching the kit, HRD Minister said:
The the country requires affordable and reliable testing for the country which can help to control the pandemic. The Corosure has been developed indigenously and is much cheaper than other kits. The kit has received ICMR approval with the highest score and DCGI approval with a very high sensitivity and specificity.
The team was led by Professor Vivekanand Perumal and it included PhD scholars Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Pandey and Praveen Tripathi, post-doctoral fellows Dr Parul Gupta and Dr Akhilesh Mishra along with professors Manoj B Menon, James Gomes and Bishwajit Kundu.
IIT Delhi has given license to 10 companies to manufacture testing kits using their technology.