@ Vikash Sharma | Sr Journalist
New Delhi: In wake of rising fear of a third wave and spread of Omicron variant, a new Covid Test Kit that gives results in 30 minutes, promises to assist government in ramping up the testing facilities. A new-age startup on Thursday unveiled Saral Test, SARS-COV-2 RT-LAMP Kit. It has been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“Amidst gloomy news due to resurgent Corona virus and rising number of cases due to fast spreading Omnicron variant, finally there’s good news in form of a ground breaking Swadeshi Covid test that is ultra fast, highly accurate and still more cost efficient than existing alternatives,” said Dhananjai Joshi, Founder & CEO QRx.
“The Saral Test Kit has 100% Specificity and 97% Sensitivity, and is as accurate as the gold standard of testing including for Omnicron variant. It has the advantages of allowing for a visual readout of result by the naked eye, in 30 minutes only. Further, it has a very low instrumentation cost, the ability to handle a high throughput and does not require manpower as skilled as for the RT-PCR. These comparative advantages combined with the high accuracy, allow it to be the technology of choice in the global fight against CoVid and will also allow India efficiently further our fight through large scale testing, monitoring and surveillance in places with high footfalls,” informed Joshi.
RT LAMP (Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification) Technology is what the world is rapidly moving towards for quick surveillance testing and large scale screening and QRx makes this world-class innovation now available for India as well, furthering the fight against Corona.
RT LAMP platform also saw endorsement by Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya earlier as a path breaking technology for rapid diagnosis of SARS CoV 2.
A Government of India enterprise BECIL, a mini Navratna, is extending help to Governments to the cause of ramping up the Covid tests. BECIL has now decided to further amplify its endeavours by taking Quick Time Labs RT LAMP, powered by QRx, to every nook and corner of the country and ensuring rapid screening and detection of Covid cases to ensure it doesn’t spread and cause havoc like in earlier waves. BECIL will help take the Quick Time test from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The founders said that along with BECIL the Made for Bharat testing kit will be able to meet rapid Covid testing requirements from Anganwadi to Airports.
The launch event saw unveiling of Saral Test by Shabnam Singh, Chairman, Yuvraj Singh Group of companies and YOUWECAN Foundation.
Tandon, a 2 time UN Awardee, Ex- IIT Delhi and Google said, “World over RT-LAMP is becoming the technology of choice and this Saral Test SARS COV-2 RT-LAMP KIT will be one of leading commercially launched RT-LAMP test kit in India for sensitive, cost-effective and rapid diagnosis of Covid-19.”
Tandon added, “Inspired by Har Ghar Dastak campaign of Health Ministry we are also proud to Launch #HarGharTesting and #HarGaavTesting by our First of kind, Innovative and scalable partnerships with Healthians and BECIL. Healthians, India’s fastest growing at home test service is present across 120 cities and will leverage the low cost Lab in a Box model of Saral test to scale up testing in multiple cities to counter the rising scare due to Omnicron variant.
QRx Private Limited is a quality and innovation driven new age Indian health-tech company co-founded by Dhananjai Joshi, start up stalwart Mohammed Sirajuddin, Abhinav Tandon and pharma professional Syed Adil. The company has marquee advisors like Ankit Mehrotra, Founder Dineout; Akshay Chhugani, Founder Kisho Capital; Dr Sandeep Gandhi, Ex CHRO & Board Member Aircel; and few scientific mentors. With innovation and scientific excellence at its heart, coupled with the drive to make each advancement in science and technology competitively available in India, it has developed the Saral Test SARS CoV-2 RT-LAMP Kit which has been approved by ICMR and is 1st of its kind in India as it does not require RNA extraction.
