Russia's FMBA develops express test systems that determine COVID in humans in 27 minutes

Russia has developed a rapid test system for detection of the COVID-19 variants including the highly transmissible delta variant, that can determine the infection within 27 minutes with a high level of accuracy, head of Russia’s Federal Medical Biological Agency (FMBA) Veronika Skvortsova told Moscow’s state-run news agencies on Tuesday, 7 September. The invention was presented at Moscow’s exhibition of the VI Eastern Economic Forum wherein the Far Eastern Regional Medical Center of the FMBA presented innovative medical developments and technologies at the industry exhibition "Welcome to the Far East!”. Russia’s Center for Strategic Planning and Management of Biomedical Health Risks unveiled the rare test systems and reagent kits that work on molecular biological research methods for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, particularly for the diagnosis of COVID-19.

"It was very important to develop express test systems for the detection of specific viral lines, including the latest Delta and Delta plus lineages, and now [the test systems] have been developed for the Iota and Lambda and other potentially dangerous lineages [when] a risk exists of them spreading to our territory,"  chief of FMBA, Veronika Skvortsova said at a session within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). 

The FMBA head told reporters that Russia faces umpteen challenges with respect to epidemiological monitoring for the detection of COVID-19 causing virus, and therefore, the medics, scientists, and health experts assumed the task of fine-tuning the testing equipment. This had a lot to do with the mutating strains and the variability of the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, Skvortsova explained. "The task at hand allowed to substantially change over the past period those test systems that were developed in March-May of last year. Now, these are rapid test systems which deliver within somewhere 20 minutes," she added. The technology works on the method known as isothermal amplification. 

[Credit: FMBA]

Key drugs of FMBA exhibited

Russia’s sixth Eastern Economic Forum was held in Vladivostok between 2-4 September. At the event, the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums of the Federal Biomedical Agency, a leading Russian developer and manufacturer of vaccines, demonstrated the results of the development of safe and effective means of preventing and treating infectious diseases. Some of the key drugs of SPbNIIVS FMBA of Russia, demonstrated at the exhibition, included trivalent and tetravalent inactivated flu-M and Flu-M Tetra influenza vaccines, purified tuberculosis allergen, and collalysin proteolytic enzyme preparation. The State Research Center "Institute of Immunology" of the FMBA of Russia demonstrates achievements in the creation of innovative products, including a new anti-coronavirus drug based on the RNA interference mechanism "MIR 19".