DRDO Develops COVID-19 Antibody Detection Kit Dipcovan

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India developed a COVID-19 antibody detection kit named Dipcovan.

Made in one of DRDO's labs, the Dipcovan kit can reportedly detect spikes of coronavirus and nucleocapsid protein of the virus.

The DRDO in its official statement said,  "The kit can detect spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97% & specificity of 99%." 

The organisation said that the kit was made in collaboration with Vanguard Diagnostics Private Limited which is a development and manufacturing company in Delhi.

They added, "It was developed indigenously by scientists, followed by extensive validation on over 1,000 patient samples at various Covid hospitals in Delhi."

According to the public statement of the DRDO, three batches of the Dipcovan were validated in 2020. The kit has also been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April this year. 

"In May 2021, the product received the regulatory approval from the DCGI, CDSCO, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to manufacture for sale and distribution," it said.

Earlier this week, the DRDO's anti-COVID drug named 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) was released by Rajanath Singh, Union Defence Minister and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

The drug was made DRDO in association with Dr Reddy's Laboratories in Hyderabad. It had received permission for emergency use by the Drug Controller General of India in early May. 

Since the drug was released in the market, many social media users were seen looking for it for their COVID-19 positive kin admitted in hospitals. While there is not enough information on the effectiveness of the drug since it has only been a week, doctors are recommending its usage on patients.

During the clinical trials of the drug, it showed much faster recovery in COVID-19 patients in hospitals and also reduced supplementary oxygen dependence, DRDO had said.