Roche Diagnostics India gets import licence for COVID-19 antibody test kit from CDSCO

Roche Diagnostics India on Thursday said it has received import licence from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test kit and is readying to bring it to India.

The import licence has been issued by the drug regulator due to the emergency health situation in public interest, Roche Diagnostics India said in a statement.

"From bringing the globally used tests to the country in record time to establishing the disease control measures by creating COVID-19 diagnostic hubs..., the Indian government and the state governments have been collaborating with various sections of the healthcare system to manage the situation," Roche Diagnostics India MD Shravan Subramanyam said.

Laboratory-based immunodiagnostic testing will complement the existing reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) solutions to possibly ascertain coronavirus-related immunity among patients and all those who want to 'go back to work' to bring the health and economic activity back to normalcy, he added.

The test can support priority screening of high-risk groups, such as healthcare workers, delivery service providers, or food supply workers who might already have been exposed and developed an immune response, the statement said.