The Health | December , 2020

caused by the highly-contagious novel coronavirus , has made disease-screening and detection a must .

Rapid and accurate molecular diagnostic technologies are crucial for the screening , isolation , treatment , prevention and control of Covid‐19 . Out of the few diagnostic tools , viruses ’ genetic material ( nucleic acid ) detection‐based techniques specific to 2019‐nCoV infections are the primary diagnostic tools .

Ho Wah Genting Berhad ( HWGB ), in its latest announcement , stated the nucleic acid test kits manufactured by Wuhan Easydiagnosis Biomedicine Co Ltd and authorised for distribution in Malaysia have passed with 100 per cent accuracy . The evaluation was by the National Public

CLINICAL PHARMACY

BY ASSOC PROF DR LONG CHIAU MING

Health Laboratory , an organisation under the Ministry of Health ( MoH ) Malaysia .

Wuhan Easydiagnosis comprises a strong research and development team . Its world-class manufacturing workshops are equipped with 100,000 production lines to maximise production .

It is also the first manufacturer of bedside , rapid and quantitative blood-detectors in China . A titan in the Chinese biomedical industry , more than 30 of its Point-of-Care Testing products are registered with China ’ s State Food and Drug Administration .

Increasing capability of rapid and vigorous testing

The test kit , known as eDiagnosis COVID-19 nucleic acid test kit , has passed the National Public Health Laboratory

The biotechnology company aims to stop the spread of Covid-19 more effectively by increasing the capability of rapid and vigorous testing .”

sensitivity and specificity tests . The analysis involved the use of Covid-19 positive and Covid-19 negative samples taken from Covid-19 positive patients and non-infected individuals . The test kit requires ribonucleic acid ( RNA ) material , which is extracted via nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs . RNA is the nucleic acid present in all living cells .

On Oct 13 , 2020 , the MoH had announced in a technical report that the Covid-19 test kits had passed the sensitivity tests administered by it with 100 per cent accuracy .

Following the successful trial , HWGB ’ s wholly-owned subsidiary HWGB Biotech Sdn Bhd plans to submit the test kit for Medical Device Authority approval . Upon approval , HWGB Biotech will proceed to market and distribute the test kits .

The biotechnology company aims to stop the spread of Covid-19 more effectively by increasing the capability of rapid and vigorous testing .

The current review reported that successful virus isolation could lead to improved molecular diagnostics and effective vaccines . Currently , there is no specific treatment method for patients with 2019-nCoV and , therefore , early diagnosis and isolation control is crucial .

The development of rapid and accurate pathogen detection methods has become a top priority . It must be noted that apart from Wuhan Easydiagnosis , Shanghai Liangrun Biomedicine Technology Co Ltd and Sansure Biotech Inc were also authorised by the company to be distributors of their test kits in May and June respectively . — The Health

Dr Long is Associate Professor at PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences , Universiti Brunei Darussalam . He has 13 years of academic , research and industrial experience and has published more than 160 SCOPUS / ISI indexed research papers in the field of antibiotics , translational research , product development and pharmaceutical sciences .

Israeli scientists say they have used groundbreaking technology to destroy cancerous cells in mice without damaging others , in what they say is a world first .

The CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing system allows scientists to make precise alterations to DNA and gained creators Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year .

Research from Tel Aviv University now suggests the system can be used to treat cancer in animals , according to Professor Dan Peer whose peerreviewed research was published in the Science Advances journal .

The cancer expert said there are ‘ no side effects ’ from the process , which he described as ‘ a more elegant chemotherapy ’.

‘ This technology can extend the life expectancy of cancer patients and we hope , one day , cure the disease ,’ Peer said , adding that the technique can destroy a tumour within three treatments .

Peer said he hopes the process will eventually replace chemotherapy - an aggressive form of treatment that can have serious side effects for patients .

Unlike the technique piloted in the Tel Aviv University research , chemotherapy is administered to the whole body .

The mice who received treatment were found to have double the life expectancy of the control group , with a 30 per cent higher survival rate , Science Advances reported .

Peer said that his team plan to develop the treatment for all cancers and that the technique could be ready to use on humans within two years .

Currently , CRISPR Cas-9 is only used for rare diseases on cells that have already been removed from the body .

Treatment would be personalised to each patient based on a biopsy which would determine whether they received a general injection or an injection directly into the tumour .

Peer said that the injection consists of messenger RNA that ‘ encodes ’ the ‘ tiny scissor function ’ for snipping the DNA , a system for identifying cancerous cells and a lipid nanoparticle .

“ I believe that in the near future , we will see many personalised treatments based on genetic messengers , for cancer and various genetic diseases . ‘ The technology needs to be further developed , but the main thing is we have shown that this can kill cancer cells ’. – Mailonline .