Mylab Discovery Solutions develops first 'Made in India' coronavirus test kit in just six weeks

News Bharati    24-Mar-2020 17:27:27 PM
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New Delhi, March 24: As the coronavirus cases are increasing in India, limited testing facilities and expensive testing kits have become the biggest concern for the medical professionals. In a bid to deal with the pandemic, Pune-based molecular diagnostics company Mylab Discovery Solutions on Monday has received commercial approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for its first 'Made in India' coronavirus test kit.
 

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The test kit has been developed in a record time of six weeks and is named as Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit, the company said in a statement. One unit of the Mylab PathoDetect coronavirus Qualitative PCR kit can test 100 patients. The company said it can manufacture 1 lac test kits in a week but can ramp up production if required.
 
 
"With an emphasis on ‘Make in India’ and support from local and central government, the COVID- 19 kits, has been made as per WHO/CDC guidelines. It was developed and evaluated in record time," said Hasmukh Rawal, Managing Director, Mylab Discovery Solutions. He further added, "the support and the immediate action from regulatory bodies (CDSCO/FDA), evaluation center of ICMR, NIV, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and the central and state governments during this national emergency is commendable."
 
Currently, India ranks lowest in terms of testing done per million population. The number is as low as 6.8. Countries like South Korea and Singapore have been able to contain the growing number of Coronavirus cases by enhancing the number of testing.
 
So far the Indian government has been sourcing millions of testing kits from Germany to facilitate testing to diagnose coronavirus patients PAN-India. However, the dependency on foreign kits has been troublesome and supply is getting blocked due to suspended airlines. This can change with the approval for made in India kits. With local sourcing of test kits, it will be a breakthrough for India as the testing kit by Mylab would cost nearly one-fourth of the current procurement cost. As per the reports, a single kit costs Rs 80,000 & it can test 100 patients.
 
Currently, the maximum cost for testing samples is capped at Rs 4,500 (Rs 1,500 for screening test for likely cases and an additional Rs 3,000 for confirmation test). Moreover, Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit screens and detects the infection within 2.5 hours, compared to seven-plus hours taken by current protocols. This means that laboratories will be able to do twice the number of reactions at the same time on one machine.