Hyderabad, Jan 8 : USA headquartered BioGenex Life Sciences Private Limited Today  announced that it has launched Direct RT-PCR Kit which detects COVID 19 caused by SARS-COV-2 variants including “Omicron” plus other variants.
Priced at Rs 150 plus taxes, the kit detects Omicron without RNA extraction in half the time than standard PCR, Dr Krishan Kalra, CEO of the company, based in Hyderabad, said in a release here.
The product is launched Nationally at Hyderabad now, he said the National Institute of Biologicals(NIB), Noida, an ICMR designated lab, examined the performance of this kit and found that it performed with 100 percent accuracy and 100 percent sensitivity which means no false negatives or positives, which will significantly control the pandemic through accurate diagnosis.
The kit detects the Omicron variant in half the time than the standard RT-PCR tests, he claimed.
The National Institute of Biologicals is an APEX autonomous Institute under the administrative control of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and engaged in Quality Control Evaluation of various biological products like vaccines, blood products, blood reagents, sera, Immuno-diagnostic kits etc. produced and imported into India.
The Triplex COVID-19 RT-PCR Direct is a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 directly from the upper respiratory swab, nasopharyngeal or or pharyngeal swabs, collected in preservative media, (VTM/UTM), pH 7.2-7.4 to provide the molecular diagnostic basis for infected patients.
Due high sensitivity with specially protocol test analyses samples in VTM directly without the need for RNA extraction step. It helps scientists for rapid tracking of disease prevalence and aid in treatment insight for healthcare systems in making appropriate measures to combat COVID-19.
There are many challenges associated with ramping up testing capacity, due to supply chain delays and shortage of extraction reagents, this situation call-up for alternative protocols to ensure the continuity of testing in laboratories.
Due to an increased demand in SARS-CoV-2 variants screenings, alternative protocol with similar sensitivity is required, Dr Krishan said.
Our latest tests reduce the cost of testing and turnaround time for the result, he said.
We are partnering with concerned organizations to understand and strengthen our diagnostic portfolio to develop reliable and sustainable diagnostic solutions in the future to help control the spread of Covid-19, the CEO added.(UNI)