DRDO fight against Covid-19: Antibody test kit, 2DG medicine launched
22 May, 2021 | Priyanka Sharma
DipCovan will be available in the markets by first week of June and will cost only Rs 75 per test. 100 kits will be made available at the time of launch, which will be ramped up to 500 kits after a...
Amid India’s fight against Covid-19, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has once again taken a big leap by launching an antibody detection kit. The homegrown Covid-19 detection kit called ‘Dipcovan’ was approved by the Indian council of medical research after testing on about 1,000 patients at several Covid-19 designated hospitals in Delhi and promises to detect the Covid-19 virus in just 75 minutes.
Developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostic Pvt Ltd, the commercial launch of Dipcovan is in first week of June and will cost only Rs 75 per test. About 100 kits will be made available at the time of launch and will be ramped up to 500 kits a month after launch.
Along with the Covid-19 detection kit, DRDO also recently launched the 2DG medicine. While the response to the drug is positive, patients are unable to get the drug due to limited production. To ramp up the supply, the government plans to involve more firms in its production. With the entry of more players, the supply is likely to improve around mid-June.
Some other initiatives undertaken by DRDO in fight against Covid-19 include a 500 bed hospital in Delhi with doctors of Armed forces, design of low cost portable ventilator named Deven, which is majorly utilized in mobile vehicles and remote/rural areas and setting up of 4 lakh litres of O2 generation plan to serve hospital.