Gonoshasthaya Kendra has postponed its plan to conduct clinical trials of their GR Covid-19 Dot Blot rapid test kit following a request from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).
The organization was supposed to start from Tuesday the clinical trials for its Covid-19 testing kit it recently developed.
Gonoshasthaya Kendra Founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury confirmed the postponement on Monday night while talking to reporters.
He said: “We had decided to conduct clinical trials of our kits on Tuesday, and were preparing for that. But now we have decided to postpone the procedure following the DGDA request made on Monday through a letter.
“We have complied with their request.”
Meanwhile, Dr Zafrullah himself on Monday tested positive for Covid-19, after Gonoshasthaya Kendra tested his samples on their own testing kit.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Gonoshasthaya Kendra had submitted 200 samples of its rapid testing kits to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) authorities to conduct the performance study.
On May 2, the BSMMU authorities formed a six-member committee to conduct the performance study of the testing kits after the organization approached them.
On April 30, the DGDA had permitted Gonoshasthaya Kendra to get its Covid-19 rapid testing kits tested.
On April 25, Gonoshasthaya Kendra authorities handed over their testing kits to the BSMMU and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention for the final approval.
On March 17, Gonoshasthaya Kendra had declared that its sister concern Gonoshasthaya-RNA Biotech Limited developed the testing kit that can examine samples to detect Covid-19 within 15 minutes.