IIT-B Prof Gets Nod to Launch New, Quicker, Less Costly COVID Test
Tapestry is affordable and can be used frequently owing to a single round quantitative pooling algorithm.
A COVID-19 testing method, created by IIT Bombay professor Manoj Gopalkrishnan, has received regulatory approval for its launch.
(Image: IIT Bombay, altered by The Quint)
A COVID-19 testing method, created by IIT Bombay professor Manoj Gopalkrishnan, has received regulatory approval for its launch. The Drug Controller General (DCGI) has cleared it for commercial use as a non-regulated medical device and it has, further, been registered with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
This new method is called Tapestry and is being brought out by Bengaluru-based tech startup Algorithm Biologics.
Tapestry is expected to help scale up testing for Coronavirus infection for half the present-cost and in one-tenth of the time.
According to PTI, Tapestry is affordable and can be used frequently owing to a single round quantitative pooling algorithm with the gold-standard RT-PCR test.
MORE ABOUT TAPESTRY
Gopalkrishnan, was quoted by PTI, as informing:
Tapestry has has been under development since last March.
Tapestry has tied up with two labs for the testing -- Delhi-based LabAssure and Bengaluru-based Dhitiomics for commercial use and talks are underway with many other labs for a nationwide launch.
Tapestry lowers testing time to four hours, which is just a tenth of the present time taken by the traditional RT-PCR tests.
The cost is under 50 per cent of the lowest such test at around Rs 250.
Tapestry has undergone sampling tests on over 8,000 people since last July.
Clinical trials were carried out at Tata Memorial Centre from August, 2020.
Field trials were held on the students of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad from February 2021.
Tapestry was invented at the IIT-Bombay.
It has also been validated by Harvard Medical School.
MORE ABOUT MANOJ GOPALKRISHNAN
According to PTI, Manoj Gopalkrishnan has studied electrical engineering at IIT Kharagpur. He also has a PhD from the University of Southern California and has been teaching at the IIT-Bombay since 2008.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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