India’s first CRISPR COVID-19 Test receives approval for commercial launch

NEW DELHI: Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved a low-cost COVID-19 test developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and TATA Group on Saturday, September 19. The ‘Feluda’ test uses the CRISPR-cas9 tool to edit genomes for diagnosis. This indigenously developed method identifies and targets SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. The test acquired high-quality benchmarks as per guidelines by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), with 96 per cent sensitivity and 98 per cent specificity for detecting the coronavirus. In an official release issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it has been said that the CRISPR Test matches the accuracy levels of traditional RT-PCR tests, with a quicker turnaround time (estimated to take 30-60 minutes), lower cost (Rs 500), and better ease of use.

Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd, commented that the development in the test’s approval process would give a boost to the country’s efforts in fighting the global pandemic. He added that the commercialization of Feluda reflects the tremendous research and development talent in the nation that can transform India’s contributions to the global healthcare and scientific research world.

Dr. Anurag Agarwal, Director, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), expressed delight in the development of the test and said, “the work started by CSIR under the sickle cell mission for genome diagnostics and therapeutics led to new knowledge that could be harnessed to quickly develop a new diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2.” The young research team was led by Dr. Debojyoti Chakraborty and Dr. Saouvik Maiti of CSIR-IGIB in this collaboration of science and industry. This strip test is likely to be made available for the first phase in testing in the next four weeks.