IIT Bombay scientist gets nod from DCGI to launch COVID-19 testing tool
Tapestry lowers testing time to four hours, which is just a tenth of the present time taken by the traditional RT-PCR tests, while the cost is under 50 per cent of the lowest such test at around Rs 250.
The new COVID-19 testing tool developed by the startup launched by IIT Bombay professor Manoj Gopal Krishnan has received regulatory approvals.Β Called Tapestry, Bengaluru-based tech startup Algorithmic Biologics has received regulatory approvals to launch its Covid-19 testing method that can help scale up testing for the deadly virus infection at half the prevailing cost and one-tenth of the time.
It enables the safe reopening of places of work and education as it is affordable and can be used frequently using a single round quantitative pooling algorithm with the gold-standard RT-PCR test, the professor who teaches machine learning at the IIT- Bombay told a media house.
Gopalkrishnan said Tapestry, which has been under development since last March, has just been cleared by the Drugs Controller General (DCGI) for commercial use as a non-regulated medical device and has also been registered with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization.
The professor said he has tied up with two labs for the testing -- Delhi-based LabAssure and Bengaluru-based Dhitiomics for commercial use and is in talks with many other labs for a nationwide launch.
Tapestry lowers testing time to four hours, which is just a tenth of the present time taken by the traditional RT-PCR tests, while the cost is under 50 per cent of the lowest such test at around Rs 250, he said.
The tool has undergone sampling tests on over 8,000 people since last July at the Institute for Stem Cell Science & Regenerative Medicine, Bengaluru, and the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Bengaluru.
Clinical trials were carried out at Tata Memorial Centre from last August, while field trials were held on the students of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad from this February, said Gopalkrishnan.
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