A real-time COVID-19 testing kit, launched last week by drug major Cipla, will be in the market from Tuesday, the company said.
The polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kit is called ‘ViraGen’ and is manufactured for the country by the company in partnership with Ubio Biotechnology Systems.
ViraGen is Cipla’s third offering in the COVID-19 testing segment. Cipla already has partnerships for antibody detection kit and antigen test kits.
“This launch will help address the current testing services and capacity issues while reaffirming the company’s ongoing expansion in the diagnostic space,” Cipla said in a regulatory filing.
ViraGen is a real-time detection kit approved by the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and is based on multiplex PCR technology.
It helps to identify and detect SARS CoV-2 N Gene and ORF Lab Gene with the sensitivity of 98.6% and the specificity of 98.8% as compared to a standard ICMR test.