Siriraj Launched ‘Innovative Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Test Kit’

Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University has launched an innovative rapid COVID-19 antigen test kit which can detect accurately result in just 15 minutes, at an affordable price, and easy to use!

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to heavily and rapidly spread across the country! There is an urgent need for rapid, simple, and accurate tests to detect the COVID-19 infection compared with the ‘time and cost consuming’ gold standard real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) in the laboratory, which requires a large number of medical personnel, which causing the limited number of suspected COVID-19 cases” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anchalee Tungtrongchitr, Chairwoman of Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, told the press.

Since June 2020, the research team led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nitat Sookrung, the Director of Biodesign Innovation Center, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, started developing the innovative rapid antigen test kit based on an immunochromatographic assay which can detect precisely and accurately results without the need for lab equipment! The kits have been tested on COVID-19 patients at Siriraj Hospital and Ramathibodi Hospital and takes just 15 minutes; including the solution that comes with the test kits can kill the virus within a minute, which can prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the field tests!

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nitat said that when approval from the FDA has been issued, the manufacturer will be capable of producing this innovative rapid COVID-19 antigen test kit, around 100,000 kits in July 2021, and another 200,000 kits in August 2021!

The first batch will be for healthcare professionals in community hospitals and rural areas for a proactive case finding. The test kits still need some adjustment for home use and were expected to be released in August 2021, costing around 250 – 300 THB for each.

“At this moment, we’re producing an instructional video about how to use the kits for the safety and effective usage” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nitat added.

We will use the innovative rapid COVID-19 antigen test kits to screen asymptomatic COVID-19 patients can detect the virus in people with high viral loads early. Early detection means the patients can be treated quickly and isolated from the non-infected members of the family or in the community.