FDA Approves UP-Developed COVID-19 Test Kits

Written by Marc Adrian

A test kit that can yield results in less than two hours has been developed by scientists from the University of the Philippines (UP).  And according to the Department of Science and Technology, it only costs ₱1,320, compared to the imported testing kit which is around ₱20,000 to ₱30,000.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of these locally developed kits for the detection of the coronavirus. The kit will be used for field testing coupled with gene sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center.

FDA Director-General Eric Domingo also warned the public against buying unauthorized test kits, clarifying that only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and UP have testing centers for COVID-19 in the country. The FDA also advised the developers of the testing kit to ramp up the production to accommodate the growing number of Persons Under Investigation (PUI).

The Department of Health (DOH) expressed its intent to expand the coverage of tests involving potential coronavirus patients as soon as it received enough supplies. 

Domingo said the FDA advised the test kit developers to ramp up the production to accommodate more suspected patients. 

[Source]