The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Saturday gave acclaim for the commercial release of India’s first Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) coronavirus test ‘Feluda’, evolved through the Tata Group and CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology).

“This test uses an indigenously developed, cutting-edge CRISPR technology for detection of the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 virus. CRISPR is a genome-editing technology to diagnosing diseases,” said the release.

As according to an legit launch issued Ministry of Science and Technology, The Tata CRISPR test, powered through CSIR-IGIB, acquired regulatory approvals from DCGI for commercial release, as according to ICMR guidelines, assembly great benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for detecting the radical coronavirus.

“The Tata CRISPR test is the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus causing Covid-19,” it added.

The launch in addition stated that the release marks a big success for the Indian medical community, shifting from research and development to a high-accuracy, scalable and dependable test in less than a hundred days.

“The Tata CRISPR test achieves accuracy levels of traditional RT-PCR tests, with quicker turnaround time, less expensive equipment, and better ease of use. Moreover, CRISPR is a futuristic technology that can also be configured for the detection of multiple other pathogens in the future,’ it said.

“The commercialisation of Tata CRISPR test reflects the tremendous R&D talent in the country which can collaborate to transform India’s contributions to the global healthcare and scientific research world,” he said.

According to the launch, the Group has worked carefully with CSIR-IGIB and ICMR to create a good quality test with a purpose to assist the state ramp up Covid-19 testing fast and economically, with a ‘Made in India’ product this is safe, dependable, affordable, and accessible.