Combating COVID-19: ICMR recommends KILPEST for COVID-19 test

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday recommended another India based company KILPEST (BLACKBIO) RT-PCR kits TRUPCR for COVID-19 test after MyLAb.

KILPEST (BLACKBIO) company is based in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

Laboratories under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) can conduct the testing to detect the coronavirus, as approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

However, the apex medical research body has strictly advised DBT, DST, CSIR and DAE laboratories to follow the ICMR guidelines before initiation of COVID19 testing. Also, ICMR will not provide diagnostic kits/ reagents to these laboratories.

Earlier, SARAGENE (2019 NCV), a coronavirus testing kit from Cosara, a leading diagnostic firm in Gujarat, was found to be not fulfilling the 100 percent compliance for COVID-19 testing as set up by Indian Council of Medical Research.

However, Cosara's The Logix Smart COVID-19 kit is approved by the US FDA.