Delhi Sees Launch Of First Indigenous HPV Test Kits For Early Cervical Cancer Screening

India's fight against cervical cancer begins as it launches the first Made-in-India HPV (Human papillomavirus) test kit for cervical cancer screening in New Delhi on Wednesday.

India has launched the first Made-in-India HPV (Human papillomavirus) test kit for cervical cancer screening in Delhi on Wednesday (April 23, 2025). According to0 news reports, The test kits have been manufactured under the Department of Biotechnology's (DBT) partnership programme Grand Challenges India (GCI) at the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

The research and tests for cervical cancer screening was coordinated by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), Noida; and the National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health (NIRRCH), Mumbai, in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and supported by the Department of Biotechnology's (DBT).

Dr Neerja Bhatla, former head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at AIIMS, Delhi and chief coordinator of the programme said, "The key feature of these kits is the inclusion of only the seven-eight most common cancer-causing types that will allow a very efficient and cost-effective screening programme which will be most suitable for India."

The study titled 'Validation of Indigenous Human Papillomavirus Tests for Cervical Cancer Screening in India (i-HPV)' validated indigenously developed, rapid, point-of-care, RTPCR-based HPV diagnostic test kits for screening cervical cancer in premier research and development laboratories of India.

Dr Neerja Bhatla, former head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at AIIMS, Delhi and chief coordinator of the programme was quoted saying to the media, "The key feature of these kits is the inclusion of only the seven-eight most common cancer-causing types that will allow a very efficient and cost-effective screening programme which will be most suitable for India."

Dr. Bhatla also said , "Given the enhancement of RTPCR-based diagnostic facilities across the nation in the post-COVID era, the introduction of sensitive RTPCR-based HPV testing kits might prove to be cost effective screening method over classical HPV DNA and Pap smear for deployment in the national cancer screening programme."