As the country intensifies its course for testing positive cases of coronavirus and faces a dearth of the testing kit for the disease, Pune-based molecular diagnostics company Mylab Discovery Solutions has signed a deal with Serum Institute of India and AP Globale to ramp up production of COVID-19 testing kits and to expand its molecular diagnostic solutions.
The new partners will provide financial support to Mylan which claims the company will be able to increase its capacity to 20 lakh test kits from the current 1.5 lakh in just 10 days.
WHO, too, advocates widespread testing. Containment is possible only with more and more testing and that is how a country like South Korea has been able to contain the spread of Covid-19, points out Hasmukh Raval, managing director of Mylab Discovery Solutions.
Mylab is the first Indian company to get commercial approval for its Mylab PathoDetect Covid-19 qualitative PCR kit. Testing is the first line of defence and the company are racing to deliver as many kits and at a faster pace using robotics and automation at its facility in Pune, said Raval. For the ramp-up, Mylab will now will also have support from the Serum Institute of India and AP Globale, which are investing an undisclosed sum in the diagnostics company.
Mylab has released multiple batches of the Covid-19 test kits to the government and private labs across the country. It currently has capacity to deliver 1.5 lakh kits per week and is ramping up deliver 20 lakh kits in the next 10 days, Raval said. There are two South Korean and one German company supplying these kits to India.
The shortage of testing kits will come to an end in a month or two as we ramp up production of the Covid-19 testing kits from 1.5 lakh to 20 lakh tests a week, Adar Poonawalla, CEO and ED of Serum Institute said.
“The investment towards Mylab will enable them to build their infrastructure and expand their capabilities further,” Poonawalla said.
Mylabs and their team have shown exceptionally innovative capabilities when they were able to develop a time-saving testing kit within six weeks of its outbreak and the company has a variety of similar innovation-driven projects which will help bring drastic improvements in the health care sector, Poonawalla added.
“Global innovation is the need of the hour to curb this pandemic that has affected millions across the world. The need for the maintenance and manufacturing of medical and health care equipment at the pace required to keep the numbers at bay has never been more important.”
Raval said as they go for expansion they will need partners and Serum Institute’s experience in operating on scale will be useful to Mylab and so they are partnering with them. Also, Serum’s presence in more than 170 countries and its understanding of global regulations will be useful as Mylab aspires to reach global markets. Abhijit Pawar, chairman, AP Globale, which has been mentoring the company. Pawar will be joining the Mylab board.
The funds invested will be used for not only scaling up the production of Covid-19 testing kits but also expansion of molecular diagnostic solutions and this is long-term strategic investments, Raval said. But for now, the focus would be to take capacity to 40 lakh units per week and make sufficient to meet the demands for testing in India, he said.
“We are continuously working with all the testing labs to predict the demand and schedule the supplies of the testing kits. We are letting them know of supply schedules ahead of time,” Sujit Jain, advisor and mentor on corporate strategy, Mylab Discovery Solutions, said.
“Molecular testing is the gold standard for testing most diseases but is expensive and has been out of reach for Indians but we want it to be accessible to all Indians,” said Raval. Mylab’s innovation and technology has enabled it to offer these kits at one fourth the price set for these tests in India, which is currently at Rs 4,500. The company was able to develop the kits and get approval from ICMR and validation from the National Institute of Virology in record time. But, this was possible only because the company invested in R&D and struggled for four and a half years to get its ID-NAT test (for HIV screening of blood by blood banks and hospitals before blood transfusion) approved. So, it was best positioned to work on the Covid-19 test, Raval said.
