IIT-Kharagpur Aims To Commercialise COVIRAP That Can Detect Coronavirus In 45 Minutes

A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has developed an advanced device for rapid diagnosis of pathogenic infections, including novel coronavirus in individuals.

The team led by Prof Suman Chakraborty and Dr Arindam Mondal of IIT-Kharagpur named the product COVIRAP.

The researchers claim to be using the portable device on the campus to detect possible Covid-19 cases that doesn’t need medically trained staff.

The diagnostic test can be conducted directly with human swab samples in the COVIRAP without requiring any separate facility for RNA extraction.

As reported, the portable device also gives ‘accurate’ results in just 45 minutes, digitally.

The kit has been supplemented with a free smartphone app and the ‘accurate’ result will be sent directly on the app in just 45 minutes, said IIT-Kharagpur.

The institution has initiated the process of deploying COVIRAP for non-campus use to detect possible coronavirus infection.

IIT-Kharagpur has tied up with industry partners from India and the United States to commercialise the device.

An American company, Bramerton Holdings, has signed a deal for securing global rights for commercially disseminating COVIRAP technology in various geographical locations.

As reported by News18, IIT-Kharagpur said that the test requires the nasal and oral swab samples to be diluted in a solution and examined in the device by mixing with reagents available in a pre-mixed form.

“The test runs automatically in the device without intermediate manual intervention,” it added.

The institution also stated that COVIRAP was developed at a critical time when the coronavirus has been threatening to spread more rapidly than ever before.

According to IIT director Prof V K Tewari, “the commercialization of COVIRAP will initiate complete indigenization and availability of a large range of affordable healthcare products in the Indian market as well as deep trenches of a large global market that is starving for the need of such technology”.

Patents for this innovation have been filed in the US, India and several other countries, while foreign filing licence has been granted recently.

Currently, the commercialisation as well as the use of COVIRAP in the US and Europe under the emergency use authorisation (EUA) process are underway.

Under a ‘Make in India’ initiative, Indian company Rapid Diagnostic Group and American firm Bramerton Holdings have associated with IIT-Kharagpur to establish a reagent supply chain, kit and device manufacturing in India with complete import substitution.