On September 19, 2020 Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given regulatory approval for the commercial launch of ‘FELUDA’(FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay), India’s 1st CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test. It is developed by the scientist of CSIR-IGIB (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology). As per the agreement as signed by Tata Sons Private Limited and CSIR-IGIB in May, 2020, Tata group will manufacture it.
Points to be noted
- Tata CRISPR test is the world’s 1st diagnostic test to successfully detect the virus causing COVID-19 by deploying a specially adapted Cas9 protein.
- Tata Group has worked closely with CSIR-IGIB and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to create this test.
Note
Tata CRISPR got the approval as per ICMR guidelines, as it met the high quality benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity to detect the novel coronavirus.
Key Info
i.The low-cost coronavirus test strip uses an indigenously developed, cutting-edge CRISPR technology to detect the genomic sequence of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
- CRISPR is a genome editing technology to diagnose diseases.
ii.The Tata CRISPR test achieves accuracy levels of traditional Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, with fast turnaround time, low cost equipment, and better ease of use.
iii.The research team was led by Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty and Dr SouvikMaiti.
Additional Info
FELUDA test costs about Rs 500 while the RT-PCR test now costs between Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000.
Recent Related News:
On 15, July 2020 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW) informed that, the Drug Controller General of India(DCGI) has given approval to India’s first fully indigenously developed vaccine against pneumonia, Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine. The vaccine has been developed by M/s. Serum
Institute of India Pvt. Ltd, Pune.
- DCGI has also granted permission to manufacture the vaccine domestically.
About CSIR-IGIB:
The expansion of CSIR- IGIB is Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology
Director– Dr. Anurag Agrawal
Headquarters– New Delhi, India
About Tata Sons Private Limited :
Tata Sons Private Limited is the holding company of Tata Group and promoter of all Tata Group companies.
Chairman of the Board at Tata Sons– Natarajan Chandrasekaran
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
