Mumbai-based Transasia seeking central approval for COVID-19 laboratory-based test

Mumbai-based firm Transasia Bio-Medicals has applied for approval from the central health team to become the first lab in the country to conduct ELISA blood tests to detect traces of COVID-19. This comes as India continues to reel from the faulty test kits received from China. 

The good news here is that the new test kits will reportedly be available for Rs 400-500, making it far more affordable than the Rs 5,000+ charged by private testing clinics in Mumbai. These kits can reportedly test up to 100 samples in an hour and have reportedly helped in regions of South America and Europe. The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has also cleared this test.

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American firm Abbott Laboratories has previously mentioned that it will start shipping laboratory-based antibody test kits to India within mid-May. “The test has demonstrated specificity and sensitivity of greater than 99% 14 days of more after symptoms started,” the company said of its product. Abbott will reportedly ramp up shipments of laboratory-based antibody test kits as and when required.

Speaking on the efficiency of the tests, Suresh Vazirani, founder of Transasia, said - “It is easy to operate, doesn’t require machines. As it is widely used to test for HIV and hepatitis, lab technicians are familiar with it,” he said, adding that around five lakh tests were used in Italy while Brazil used 2 lakh tests last week. The fact that this test can be conducted by regular lab technicians indicates that its reach will be pretty vast. 

Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that Indian laboratories will be able to mass-produce laboratory-based antibody testing kits by the end of May. Separately, the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology at the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CISR-IGIB) in New Delhi has come up with a laboratory-based test strip based on paper costing Rs 500. 

Abbott’s antibody testing kit is considered the best solution right now as it can detect IgG antibody, a protein that is developed in the body after recovering from the virus. This can stay within the body for a few days to a year, thus helping health officials determine if someone has been an asymptomatic carrier of the virus.