What Is DIPCOVAN?: COVID-19 Antibody Detecting Kit Developed by DRDO

What Is Dipcovan: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed an antibody detection kit for Covid-19 antibody which is called DIPCOVAN. The kit has been approved by the ICMR and is set to be commercially available from the first week of June.

The Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences lab of DRDO developed the antibody testing kit, DIPCOVAN in association with Vanguard Diagnostics PVT LTD. It has been approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) since April 2021.

DRDO stated that it has received regulatory approval for manufacture and sales of the product from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) as well as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in May 2021.

It also said that the developed kit was tested on more than 1,000 Covid patient samples in various hospitals in Delhi. Three batches of the product also received validation last year.

What is DIPCOVAN?

DRDO developed an antibody testing kit for the early detection of the COVID-19 virus called DIPCOVAN. It can detect both the spikes and the nucleocapsid (S and N proteins) with a high sensitivity rate of 97% and specificity rate of 99%.

DRDO said that the kit is intended to detect antibodies in the human plasma while targeting the SARS-CoV-2 antigens. It takes only 75 minutes to carry out the test with DIPCOVAN and has a shelf life of 18 months.

DRDO develops COVID-19 antibody detection kit DIPCOVAN. The kit can detect spike as well as nucleocapsid (S&N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus.#AtmanirbharBharat https://t.co/ubsrYIxGyo pic.twitter.com/B356vaeKYG

— DRDO (@DRDO_India) May 21, 2021

How and when will DIPCOVAN be available?

DIPCOVAN will be launched by Vanguard Diagnostics PVT LTD commercially by the first week of June. It is expected that there will be an availability of 100 testing kits, which approximates 10,000 tests. The production will succumb to 500 kits per month after the launch.

The price is expected to be Rs. 75 per test.

Earlier, DRDO also launched an anti-Covid drug called 2-DG which has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in association with Dr Reddy Laboratories.

Pharma Major Cipla also launched its third (RT-PCR) Covid-19 testing kit called ViraGen with Ubio Technologies Biotechnology Systems. The test kit will be distributed and marketed by Cipla from May 25.