India's paper-strip COVID-19 test, named after Satyajit Ray's 'Feluda', gets DCGI approval

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved use of paper-based COVID-19 test strip ‘Feluda’ developed by researchers from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). Ministry of Science and Techlogy anunced on September 19 that DCGI has given regulatory approval to Tata CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interd Short Palindromic Repeats) test.

A seven-member team led by two Bengali-origin scientists Dr Souvik Maiti and Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty, working at CSIR’s Institute of Gemics and Integrative Biology, came up with new test. paper-based test has been named after famous detective character created by legendary filmmaker-author Satyajit Ray. Feluda stands for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay and acronym is inspired by famous fictional Bengali sleuth.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Dr Chakraborty had said that he was a fan of Satyajit Ray's works and his wife suggested to name COVID-19 test after fictional character Feluda. detective was kwn for his ability to quickly solve criminal cases and rapid COVID-19 test using  paper-based strip may be reason name it after Feluda.

According to media reports, two scientists had been working on tool for around two years but started testing in late January wher it works for vel coronavirus or t. ministry anunced that Tata CRISPR test met high-quality benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for detecting vel coronavirus. 

“This test uses an indigeusly developed, cutting-edge CRISPR techlogy for detection of gemic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 virus. CRISPR is a geme editing techlogy to diagsing diseases,” statement read.

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'Futuristic techlogy'

Tata CRISPR test has become world’s first diagstic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect SARS-CoV-2, marking a significant achievement for Indian scientific community. ministry stated that futuristic techlogy can also be configured for detection of multiple or pathogens in future.

government of India has called upon scientists and startups across country to come toger and develop low-cost and improved methods to help combat virus. cost of test is being speculated to be anywhere between Rs 500-700 which is way below amount currently charged by private laboratories.

Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, TATA Medical and Diagstics Ltd, said in a statement that regulatory approval will give a boost to country’s efforts in fighting global pandemic. He stressed that commercialisation of Tata CRISPR test reflects tremendous R&D talent in country, which can collaborate to transform India’s contributions to global healthcare and scientific research world.

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