Mylab partners with SII’s Poonawalla, APG’s Pawar to scale-up production of Covid-19 test kits

New Delhi: Pune-based molecular diagnostics company Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd has partnered with Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla and Abhijit Pawar, Chairman of APG to scale up the operations of Covid-19 testing kits.

The funds will be used to bring in advanced automation and increase production capacity of Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kits -the first Made in India testing kit to get approved by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

“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,” said SII’s CEO Adar Poonawalla.

"Global innovation is the need of the hour to curb this pandemic that has affected millions across the world. The investment towards Mylab will enable them to build their infrastructure and expand their capabilities further,” He further added.

Till now, the novel coronavirus pandemic has spread across 180 countries, affecting thousands of lives globally. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India stands at 2095. Emergency measures like 21-day lockdown, faster approvals for testing kits and PPE have been implemented to contain the virus spread as social distancing and increased testing have to proven to be effective. Mylab's development can aid the shortage of testing kits for Covid-19, a problem witnessed across India.

According to Hasmukh Rawal, MD, Mylab Discovery Solutions, this partnership can impact billions of people across the world, especially India.