Hyderabad : 22/05/2021

DRDO develops Covid-19 antibody detection kit

The Hans India (Twitter)

New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an antibody detection kit known as Dipcovan, which is expected to be available at Rs 75 per test in the market from June first week onwards.

The kit has been developed by the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) of DRDO. "The antibody detection-based kit Dipcovan is the DIPAS-VDx Covid-19 IgG Antibody Microwell ELISA for sero-surveillance," the institution said.

The kit can detect both spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97 per cent and specificity of 99 per cent.

The kit has been developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a development and manufacturing diagnostics company based in New Delhi.

The kit has been developed indigenously by the scientists, followed by extensive validation on more than 1,000 patient samples at various Covid designated hospitals in Delhi.