NIV develops antibody detection test for COVID-19

Scientists at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology have developed and validated an indigenous antibody detection test for COVID-19 and partnered with an Indian pharma firm for its mass-scale production.

The test named as ‘COVID Kavach Elisa’ detects IgG antibodies in a blood sample and has been validated at two sites in Mumbai and found to have high sensitivity and specificity.

“The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of the population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus infection,” Health Minister Harshvardhan said.

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An official statement said the test has an advantage of having much higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to the several rapid test kits which have recently flooded the Indian market.

ICMR has transferred the technology to Zydus Cadila for mass-scale production of the ELISA test kits.

“Zydus has proactively taken up the challenge to expedite the approvals and commercial production of the ELISA test kits so that they can be made available for use at the earliest,” an official statement said.

It said the test will have the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours.

Moreover, ELISA-based testing is easily possible even at the district level as the kit has an inactivated virus.

“There are also minimal bio-safety and bio-security requirements as compared to the real-time RT-PCR test,” the statement said.