- The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is working on an affordable, faster, and easy-to-use CRISPR Cas-based TB detection system.
- The ICMR has invited organisations, companies, and manufacturers to commercialise this technology, developed by the ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre in Dibrugarh.
- It is the world’s cheapest TB testing technology and can detect TB using DNA from saliva at a very low cost, testing over 1,500 samples within two hours.
- The system is simple enough for use in village primary health centres.
- With TB killing an estimated 480,000 Indians annually and over a million “missing” cases, the need for effective testing is critical.
- Efforts to eliminate TB by 2025 have plateaued, prompting a re-evaluation of treatment protocols.
Dig Deeper: Read about the Global TB Report of the World Health Organisation.
