Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has tied up with an institute of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to develop and scale-up a new Reverse Transcriptase-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) based test for coronavirus.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has also been signed between Jammu’s Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) and RIL, CSIR said in a statement.
The IIIM is a research institute under the CSIR.
COVID-19 RT-LAMP test is a nucleic acid-based test carried out from nasal/throat swab sample from patients.
“The test recipe has been developed and successfully demonstrated using synthetic templates. It is rapid (45-60 min), cost-effective and accurate test,” the CSIR said.
“It has been tested with a small number of patients samples and validating the kit on more number of patient samples is planned and will be done together with RIL,” it added.
The advantage of this test is that the RT-LAMP-based COVID-19 kit components are easily available and these can be completely manufactured in India, it added.
According to the CSIR, the RT-LAMP test can be done in a single tube with minimal expertise in a very basic lab setup like mobile units/kiosks for testing at airports, railway stations, bus stands and other public places.
“The end detection of the test is a simple coloured reaction, which is easily visible in UV light, and now is being modified such that it can be detected in regular light,” it added.
CSIR-IIIM and RIL are planning to jointly approach ICMR for approval after testing the accuracy of the kit on a much larger number of patients.