MANILA – The Food and Drug Administration has allowed the use of test kits for the detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that was developed by a research center at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Manila.
The FDA issued a “certificate of exemption” that would allow the detection kits developed by the UP-National Institute of Health to be “used for field testing coupled with gene sequencing at the Philippine Genome Center.”
“The increasing number of reported COVID-19 cases will require immediate diagnosis and monitoring,” FDA director general Eric Domingo said Tuesday.
“The kits will provide our laboratories with technological reinforcement to accommodate the growing number of patients to be tested and aid in early screening of positive cases and will provide greater access to a less costly diagnostic procedure,” he added.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque earlier said there is a “global shortage” of kits for testing potential COVID-19 cases, quoting the World Health Organization.
The Philippines currently has 4,500 testing kits and expects to receive 2,000 more from the WHO, he said.
The WHO has “pre-qualified” testing kits developed by the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health, which appear to yield “accurate” results in 2 hours, said Duque./PN
