CCMB, Apollo to scale production of new Covid test

Hyderabad: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Apollo Hospitals on Thursday announced collaboration for joint manufacturing and commercialisation of innovative dry swab test ‘Direct Amplification rapid RT-PCR (DArRT-PCR)’ for Covid detection. The test has been developed by CSIR-CCMB and the collaboration with Apollo Hospitals will focus on scaling up manufacturing and commercialisation […]

Hyderabad: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Apollo Hospitals on Thursday announced collaboration for joint manufacturing and commercialisation of innovative dry swab test ‘Direct Amplification rapid RT-PCR (DArRT-PCR)’ for Covid detection. The test has been developed by CSIR-CCMB and the collaboration with Apollo Hospitals will focus on scaling up manufacturing and commercialisation of the tests. The DArRT-PCR tests will be available nationally through the Apollo Hospitals network.

The CCMB dray swab test which received the nod from ICMR in November allows for rapid, safer and more cost-effective Covid testing. The swab samples can be sent to testing centres without the need for imported and expensive Viral Transport Medium. The biological sample can be directly isolated from the swabs and testing can be done using a one-step protocol. The DArRT-PCR test reduces the time and human effort by 40 per cent to 50 per cent in the current setting of testing.

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“As people are getting back to their normal lives and businesses, it is important to ramp up our testing for Covid-19. The virus will be here for some more time and those who test more frequently will be able to contain the impact of Covid-19 better. Such cheaper, rapid, accurate and easy to use tests are much needed,” CCMB Director, Dr Rakesh Mishra said.

The Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, Dr Sangita Reddy said, “We are glad to collaborate with CCMB in this path-breaking initiative. Co-creating and commercialising an Indian solution is also in line with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

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