Japanese fiber and biotechnology firm Toyobo has developed a test kit capable of detecting coronavirus within 60 minutes. Current polymerase chain reaction tests usually take about 30 minutes to 2 hours to extract the genetic material and then an additional 2 hours to multiply and detect it. Toyobo’s SARS-CoV-2 Detection Kit successfully reduced the time it takes to extract the specific genetic material of the virus and multiply it for detection

Toyobo hopes the technology that enables the fast multiplication of the genetic material of the virus will lead to the early development of an effective therapeutic drug and vaccine against the new coronavirus that is sweeping across the globe. The testing kits from Toyobo will be available for researchers at universities, pharmaceutical companies and other institutions in Japan for 90,000 yen ($840) and includes 100 tests per kit. Japan is planning to raise its testing capacity to about 20,000 tests per day, and many companies have been developing new test kits by utilizing their technologies.