Title:Innovation and Patenting Activities During COVID-19 and
Advancement of Biochemical and Molecular Diagnosis in the Post-
COVID-19 Era
Volume: 18
Issue: 3
Author(s): Suman Kumar Ray and Sukhes Mukherjee*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh-462020, India
Keywords:
COVID-19, inflammatory markers, molecular diagnosis, RT-PCR, LAMP, CRISPR, NGS, patents.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is to escalate globally and acquire new mutations
quickly, so accurate diagnostic technologies play a vital role in controlling and understanding
the epidemiology of the disease. A plethora of technologies acquires diagnosis
of individuals and informs clinical management of COVID. Some important biochemical
parameters for COVID diagnosis are the elevation of liver enzymes, creatinine, and nonspecific
inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin 6 (IL-6).
The main progression predictors are lymphopenia, elevated D-dimer, and hyperferritinemia,
although it is also necessary to consider LDH, CPK, and troponin in the marker
panel of diagnosis. Owing to the greater sensitivity and accuracy, molecular technologies
such as conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcription (RT)-PCR,
nested PCR, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and xMAP technology
have been extensively used for COVID diagnosis for some time now. To make so many
diagnostics accessible to general people, many techniques may be exploited, including
point of care (POC), also called bedside testing, which is developing as a portable promising
tool in pathogen identification. Some other lateral flow assay (LFA)-centered techniques
like SHERLOCK, CRISPR-Cas12a (AIOD-CRISPR), and FNCAS9 editor limited
uniform detection assay (FELUDA), etc. have shown auspicious results in the rapid detection
of pathogens. More recently, low-cost sequencing and advancements in big data
management have resulted in a slow but steady rise of next-generation sequencing
(NGS)-based approaches for diagnosis that have potential relevance for clinical purposes
and may pave the way toward a better future. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various
institutions provided free, specialized websites and tools to promote research and access
to critically needed advanced solutions by alleviating research and analysis of data within
a substantial body of scientific and patent literature regarding biochemical and molecular
diagnosis published since January 2020. This circumstance is unquestionably unique and
difficult for anyone using patent information to find pertinent disclosures at a specific
date in a trustworthy manner.
