“We've found the antibody kit of Gonoshasthaya Kendra ineffective to detect coronavirus,” BSMMU VC Prof Konak Kanti Barua told UNB on Wednesday.

He said the committee formed to conduct the performance study of the kit, headed by Prof Shahina Tabassum, prepared its final report on the trial.

The VC said the committee conducted the trial using 509 antibody kits of GK. “In their analysis, the committee found the kit dysfunctional to identify the virus.”

He said it is possible to identify the infection of maximum 40 percent of the Covid-19 patients with the GK kit.

"We performed the trial on a total of 509 patients’ samples. Only 11 percent of the patients were identified in the first week while 40 percent in the second week. So, how do we say this kit is effective?” Prof Konak Kanti said.

He, however, said the kit can be helpful to tackle the situation.

The VC said they have already submitted the report on the performance study of the antibody kit to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). “They’ll will now take decision on it.”

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According to GK, its antibody kit can help identify whether people have been infected with coronavirus in the past, and the presence of antibodies or resistance power in their bodies. It will also help collect plasma of those who have recovered.

On May 2, the BSMMU authorities formed a six-member committee with Prof Shahina Tabassum as its head to conduct the performance study of the testing kit.

On March 17, Gonoshasthaya Kendra declared that they had developed a testing kit that can examine samples to detect Covid-19 within 15 minutes.

On May 13, it submitted the samples of GR Covid-19 Rapid Dot Blot antigen kit to the BSMMU authorities for the performance trial.

However, it requested BSMMU on June 3 to suspend the performance study of its coronavirus-testing antigen kit due to the detection of some inconsistencies in sample collection procedure.

Earlier on April 30, the DGDA gave Gonoshasthaya the permission to get its Covid-19 rapid testing kits tested.

The DGDA informed Gonoshasthaya that the performance study of the kits could be done either at the BSMMU or IEDCR.