Kolkata Firm Develops Coronavirus Test Kit Costing Rs. 500

Kolkata: A South 24 Parganas based private firm GCC Biotech India claimed it has developed indigenous ‘real-time’ COVID-19 test kit costing only Rs. 500 for a single test. “After 2 months of R&D we made this kit. It is cost-effective as it contains all reagents produced by us. We’ve made 1 crore test kits and have 40 lakh in store. If India can do 3 lakh tests per day, we’ll be able to support the government without any problems,” Raja Majumdar who is the Managing Director of GCC Biotech India said while speaking to ANI.

Developed indigenously, one kit can test 100 patients.

GCC Biotech, located in Bakrahat is engaged in preparing the testing kits in its own laboratory. This indigenous test kit includes two steps – QRT PCR Master Mix Primer Probe and RNA Template each of which is developed in the laboratory itself.

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Testing kits were prepared following three procedures all leads to testing quality of Proteins and Enzymes.

Raja Majumdar said,

It is a real-time test kit which can detect infection. Within 90 minutes, the patient can get the COVID result. The incubation period is not required for the test. Producing reagents is an advantage of the company. We are supplying the reagents across the country. We have the capacity to manufacture 1 Crore test kits per month.

Raja Majumdar further added: “We have got Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) clearance and are waiting for WHO approval. If we are asked by the State or Central government for providing test kits at this hour of crisis, we are ready to meet the demands as required. A private laboratory is charging Rs. 4500 for the COVID test. This kit will turn out to be fruitful to those who are economically weak.”

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