Hyderabad company launches kit that detects all Covid variants

Hyderabad: BioGenex Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, a Hyderabad-based USA headquartered company developed an RT-PCR kit for Covid-19 diagnosis, claims to detect COVID 19 virus caused by SARS COV 2 variants including Omicron and other variants. The kit detects Omicron without RNA extraction in half the time than standard RT-PCR.

CEO of BioGenex Life Sciences Dr Krishan Kalra state the product is launched nationally. The cost of the kit is Rs 150 including taxes.

According to a media release, the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) in Noida, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) designated lab, examined the performance of this kit and found that it performed with 100% accuracy &100% 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.

The NIB is a supreme autonomous institute under the administrative control of the ministry of health and family welfare under the government of India engaged in quality control evaluation of various biological products like vaccines, blood products, blood reagents, sera, immuno-diagnostic kits, etc.

The Triplex COVID-19 RT-PCR is a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 directly from the upper respiratory swab, nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs, collected in preservative media, (VTM/UTM), pH 7.2-7.4 to provide the molecular diagnostic basis for infected patients.

Due to high sensitivity with especially 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 (e.g. hospital beds, oxygen ventilators, and expensive medications) 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 increased demand for SARS-CoV-2 variants screenings, an alternative protocol with similar sensitivity is required, said Dr Krishan Kalra.

He further added sustained surveillance is essential for public health; our latest tests reduce the cost of testing and turnaround time for the result.