NewDelhi September 20 :The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) on Saturday approved country’s first Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic (CRISPR) Covid-19 test for commercial launch. This is developed by Tata and powered by CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) FELUDA (an acronym for FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay).
‘The approval for the Tata CRISPR test for COVID-19 will give a boost to the country’s efforts in fighting the global pandemic. The commercialization of the Tata CRISPR test reflects the tremendous R&D talent in the country, which can collaborate to transform India’s contributions to the global healthcare and scientific research world,’ Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd, said.
What is Tata CRISPR test?
*CRISPR is a genome editing technology to diagnosing diseases.
*Tata CRISPR Covid-19 test uses an indigenously developed, cutting-edge CRISPR technology for detection of the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
*This is the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus causing Covid-19.
*The Tata CRISPR test achieves accuracy levels of traditional RT-PCR tests.
* However, it will take lesser time to process the results. The equipment are also less expensive.