Coronavirus testing kits: Mylab signs deal with Serum, APG to ramp up production

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Serum's Poonawala and APG's Pawar to invest in Mylab to increase production of COVID-19 kits
• One kit can test 100 samples, current capacity 1.5 lakh tests per week, will increase to 20 lakh
• MyLab first Indian company to get marketing approval
• Nature, size of investment not disclosed

Pune-based molecular diagnostics company Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd has partnered with Serum India's CEO Adar Poonawalla and Abhijit Pawar, Chairman of APG to scale up production of COVID-19 testing kits and expansion of molecular diagnostic solutions. The financial support from the partners will see MyLab increase its production capacity from 1.5 lakh tests a week to 20 lakh tests a week soon.

"In the next few weeks we will be ramping up the production of the Covid-19 testing kits taking from 1.5 lakh tests/week to 20 lakh tests/week. The shortage of testing kits will come to an end in a month or two," Serum Institute India's CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a statement.

Also read: Coronavirus in India Live Updates: Over 400 COVID-19 cases reported in 24 hours; spike linked to Delhi event

Mylab is the first Indian company to get commercial approval for its testing kits named as Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit. The testing kit is approved by Indian FDA/ Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and ICMR evaluation.

"Mylabs and their team have shown exceptionally innovative capabilities when they were able to develop a time-saving testing kit within 6-weeks of its outbreak. Keeping in mind their resilient approach and quick response, I am certain that the company has a variety of similar innovation-driven projects which will help bring drastic improvements in the healthcare sector. The investment towards Mylab will enable them to build their infrastructure and expand their capabilities further," said Poonawalla. The partners are yet to disclose the investment details.

Also read: Coronavirus: 16 companies set to sell COVID-19 test kits in India