Odisha’s Indigenous COVID Test Kit Gets ICMR Approval

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s first indigenous Rapid Antigen Test kit IMCOV-AG has been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Bhubaneswar.

The kit, which will be used to test a person for COVID-19 by obtaining nasopharyngeal swab samples, has been developed by IMGENEX India Pvt. Ltd, Bhubaneswar in collaboration with RMRC.

Developed at a cost of Rs one crore, the kit is likely to be available in market in two months, informed IMGENEX India founder Dr Sujoy Singh. Work on the kit was initiated in June 2021, said the founder.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, as many as 150 Rapid Test Kits (Antigen) have been validated by ICMR (including 31 revalidations).

“All types of Covid-19 test kits like rapid antigen, antibody as well as RT-PCR kits are used after being approved by ICMR. The IMGENEX India Pvt. Ltd, Bhubaneswar first started developing the kit and RMRC Bhubaneswar provided intellectual support for in-house testing and validation. Subsequently, we submitted the proposal for approval. The ICMR evaluated the kit by third party as per the existing protocols and issued the approval letter on January 27,” said Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, Director ICMR-RMRC, Bhubaneswar.