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 Mylab 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.

Mylab is the first Indian company to get commercial approval for its MylabPathoDetect Covid-19 qualitative PCR kit. 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.

“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,” saidAdar Poonawalla, CEO and ED of Serum Institute.

HasmukhRawal, Promoter and Managing Director atMylab Discovery Solutions, said,“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. 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.”

Rawal further 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.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.”

Mylab Discovery Solutions has signed a deal with Serum Institute of India and AP Globale to ramp up production of COVID-19 testing kits.