Nangako ang Department of Science and Technology (DOST) nitong Biyernes, Nob. 5, na gagawin nilang "mas abot-kaya" ang presyo ng diagnostic kits para sa parehong mga nakahahawa at hindi nakahahawang sakit.
Tiniyak ni DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) Executive Director Jaime C. Montoya ang publiko na mas abot-kaya at accessible ang pagbuo ng mga local diagnostic test kits sa bansa.
“The reason why we’re actually developing diagnostic tests and capacitating our local manufacturers to do it is for us to make available affordable, cheap, and accurate diagnostic tests, reliable tests to Filipinos,”sabi niya s aisang panayam sa ANC nitong Biyernes.
Sinabi ng PCHRD chief na prayoridad nila ngayon ang pagbuo ng diagnostic kits para sa mga nakahahawang sakit kagaya ng tuberculosis at hepatitis B.
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“We are just prioritizing, initially, we focused on communicable diseases, common diseases we see such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, but you also, now because of the pandemic, we’re also looking at COVID-19 and we did develop some diagnostic kits for that,” sabi niya.
Dahil sa COVID-19 pandemic, nakapagbuo rin sila ng diagnostic test kits para sa COVID-19 kagaya ng GenAmplify™ COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection kit.
“But we have, also being developed, other diagnostic tests for non-communicable diseases such as for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and others.So we’re just prioritizing, but they’re also equally important because they’re also leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the country.” ani Montoya.
Nabanggit niya na ang lokal na binuo na GenAmplifyTM ay nailunsad na sa maraming ospital sa bansa. Ang test kit ay binuo noong nakaraang taon ng isang pangkat ng 15 scientists mula sa Philippine Genome Center, na kinabibilangan ng imbentor ng BiotekTM M Dengue Kit, Dr. Raul V. Destura, at ng Unibersity of the Philippines Manila -- National Institutes of Health (UPM-NIH).
“It is actually much cheaper than the imported kits and it answers the lack of diagnostic kits, particularly during the beginning of the pandemic [when] everyone is scrambling to get hold of this diagnostic test. Because we are able to produce it locally, we are able to have a stable supply of diagnostic kits. So it has brought down the cost and we aim to do that also for other diagnostic kits that we are developing so that they are more affordable and accessible to many Filipinos,”sabi ni Montoya.
“We have micro-PCR, it is a mini version of the RT-PCR and it is developed by the Ateneo group. We also have other kits determining the genomic characterisation or what variety or viral type the COVID-19 is,”dagdag ng DOST official.
Pinopondohan din nila ang ang pagbuo g diagnostic kits matapos makita ang demand ng mga Pilipino sa mas abot-kaya at mas accessible test kits, punto ng Montoya.
“Well you know diagnostic tests, compared to drugs and other modalities, are not that advanced, and that is why our value chain is not that well-developed as far as diagnostics is concerned,” sabi ng opisyal.
“But as more and more companies go into diagnostics and we’re seeing more and more companies into diagnostics, as more and more researchers go into development of newer diagnostic tests, we see that the environment will change and that we’ll be more capable in terms of improving the value chain,” dagdag nito.
Charissa Luci-Atienza
