What is ‘Dipcovan’, the COVID-19 antibody detection test kit by DRDO?

DRDO has developed a COVID-19 antibody detection kit ‘Dipcovan’ that can assess whether or not a person has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

The kit has been developed in association with Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a New Delhi-based development and manufacturing diagnostics company.

The kit will help a person detect if they have previously been exposed to Covid-19 virus and if they have antibodies for it.

It can detect spike and S&N proteins of the virus with 97% sensitivity and 99% specificity. It requires 75 minutes for the test, has an 18-month shelf-life, and is expected to be priced at ₹75 per test.

It is said that the primary purpose of the kit is to detect antibodies. It will be used in Covid-19 epidemiology studies such as serosurveys

The indigenously developed kit was tested on more than 1,000 patient samples at various Covid hospitals of Delhi and three batches of the product had received validation last year too.

The DIPCOVAN kit will be sold commercially from June first week.