COVID KAVACH: India’s first indigenous ELISA Test Kit for COVID-19
- Ahmedabad-based Cadila Healthcare Ltd has has been provided with technology to make and market the country’s first anti-SARS-Cov-2 human IgG Elisa test kit.
- The kit will be used for antibody detection of Covid-19.
- After the initial development at ICMR-NIV, technology has been transferred to Zydus Cadila for mass scale production.
ABOUT COVID KAVACH ELISA
- ‘Covid Kavach Elisa’ is the first indigenously developed IgG Elisa test for antibody detection.
- It has been developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
- This test will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to SARSCoV2 infection.
- ICMR-NIV’s test kit was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has been found to have high sensitivity and specificity.
- The kit can test 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours.
- Elisa-based testing is easily possible even at the district level.
TYPES OF KITS
- ICMR had granted approvals for two types of test kits.
- The first is a real-time polymerase chain reaction test, which is conducted in a laboratory and requires nasal and throat swabs. The test takes up to eight hours to give results and is stated to be a confirmatory molecular test.
- The second type of test is rapid antibody test, which is primarily testing blood to detect Covid-19 antibodies. The results can be obtained in 30 minutes.
ABOUT ELISA
- ELISA stands for Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay.
- A commonly used analytical biochemistryassay and a diagnostic tool in various industries.
ABOUT ICMR
- Apex body in Indiafor the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.
- HQ- New Delhi
- Secretary and Director General-Dr. Balram Bhargava
ABOUT NIV
- Indian virology research institute under Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- Location-Pune
ABOUT ZYDUS CADILA
- HQ– Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Founder – Ramanbhai Patel
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