TWO MORE VIETNAMESE COVID-19 TEST KITS AUTHORIZED TO BE SOLD IN EUROPE
On Friday afternoon, June 5, Vietnam announced two more test kits for SARS-CoV-2 virus authorized for sale in Europe and are named on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Emergency Use Listing procedure.
One-step RT-PCR COVID-19 kit Thai Duong:
- Priced at 480,000 VND (~21 USD)/test
- Can detect SARS-CoV-2 virus from clinical sample
- Produces result four hours since sample collection
- Has 100% specificity
- Remains stable during transport using gel cold packs with temperature ranging from 2-8 degrees Celsius within 72 hours
- Created by R&D Group of the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biologicals, successfully tested in February 2020.
RT-LAMP COVID-19 kit Thai Duong:
- The kit can be used at on-site medical facilities or field hospitals during COVID-19 outbreaks and only requires a heating device that can maintain a constant temperature of 64 degree Celsius.
- Carrying out the Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) technique only requires a simple heating device without the need for any PCR equipment.
- Can detect the novel coronavirus using the naked eye, based on color changes of indicator chemicals on ten copies per reaction which is comparable to Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) technique.
- A sample could be processed within 30 minutes using the new kit compared to 120 minutes using the RT-PCR technique.
- The kit will not show false positive results for other coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HKU4, HKU1, OC43, and 229E.
The kit has attracted a lot of attention from the US and Europe.
In research carried out by the Ministry of Health, an R&D team has successfully created a Version 2.0 of the product with more improvements to eliminate variables during testing procedures. It is expected to be presented in the near future.
Both test kits have been authorized to be sold in the EU (CE Certificate). From May 7, the Ministry of Health has provided the two kits with product codes under the Decision 1986/QĐ-BYT from the government.
The two kits are the product of research projects carried out by Vietnamese scientists to create test kits capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus. These teams are from the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biologicals and Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
Sao Thai Duong is a medical company excelling in medicinal product reseach, development, and distribution.
