On 15th July 2020, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) E-launched the world’s most affordable Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) based COVID-19 diagnostic kit, “Corosure Kit”. It is developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi(IIT-D) approved by Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) and Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
Key People:
Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State of HRD, Amit Khare, Secretary of higher education and other senior officers participated during the launch.
Corosure kit:
Highlights:
i.The kit received the approval of ICMR with highest score and DCGI approved the kit with a high sensitivity and specificity.
ii.This is the first probe-free COVID-19 diagnostic kit approved by ICMR.
Cost & Manufacturing:
i.The kit is manufactured by the Newtech Medical Devices, based in Delhi NCR.
ii.Around 10 companies received the Corosure kit licence for manufacturing from IIT-Delhi.
iii.The base price of the kit is Rs.399 and after including the RNA isolation and laboratory charges the price will be comparatively cheaper than the available kits.
Application and availability:
i.The Centre for Rural Development and Technology of IIT Delhi plays a vital role in the application of the kit to ensure that the benefits of the technology reaches everyone.
ii.The kit will be available in the authorised testing labs.
IIT-Delhi Corosure kit Development Team :
i.The kit was developed by Prof. Vivekanandan Perumal and his team which include PhD Scholar Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Pandey, Praveen Tripathi and Dr. Akhilesh Mishra, Dr. Parul Gupta, Dr. Sonam Dhamija, Prof. Manoj B. Menon, Prof. Bishwajit Kundu and Prof. James Gomes
ii.IIT Delhi becomes the first institute to get approval for a real time PCR-based diagnostic kit from the ICMR.
About Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D):
Director– Prof V. Ramgopal Rao
About Ministry of Human Resource Development (MoHRD):
Union Minister– Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
Minister of State– Sanjay Dhotre
