DRDO Develops Antibody Detection Based Kit

New Delhi: A Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) lab has developed an antibody detection-based kit ‘DIPCOVAN the DIPAS-VDx COVID 19 IgG Antibody Microwell ELISA’ for sero surveillance.

The kit can detect spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97% & specificity of 99%, informed DRDO.

It has been developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd which is a Delhi based development & manufacturing diagnostics company. The kit was developed indigenously by scientists, followed by extensive validation on over 1000 patient samples at various COVID hospitals in Delhi.

As many as three batches of the product were validated during last one year. The Antibody detection kit has been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April.

However in May, the product received the regulatory approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) to manufacture for sale and distribution, added DRDO.