The Indian government is engaged in a tooth and nail fight against COVID-19. The government has taken a formidable step to increase the domestic manufacturing of testing kits to fight against the novel coronavirus infection across the country. Not just private companies, but even universities are coming up with testing solutions.
List of the organisations making more efficient test kits in India
1. Mylab Discovery developed kits in 6 weeks
Mylab Discovery Solution has the distinction to become the first Indian company that got a nod for its diagnostic test for novel coronavirus from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). This was certified after an assessment by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The testing kit is known as the Mylab ‘PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR’ kit.
The company developed these kits in a record six weeks’ time.
Credit in making this testing kits goes to Minal Dakhave Bhosale, Mylab research founder and chief for developing COVID-19 kits also known as the ‘Patho detect’ in six weeks. She along with her team started their mission in February. During that time, Minal Dakhave Bhosale had shown courage as she was in the last stage of her pregnancy. She succeeded in her assignment and submitted the testing kit to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for evaluation on March 18, just a day before the birth of her daughter.
2. Altona Diagnostics and MY LAB
The two organisations have already got their kits approved. The names of their kits are ‘RealStar SARS-CoV-2, RT-PCR kit 1.0’ and ‘Patho Detect’, respectively. Trivitron Healthcare, a noted medical device maker has been developing diagnostic kits and testing facilities as well.
With the increase in COVID-19 cases in India, the demand for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits has also increased. Seeing the requirement, India is looking to get the kits at the earliest so that it meets its requirements. The health ministry is ready to import kits from China, Korea and Singapore. The supplies are expected to arrive by April 10, India would import around 1 crore PPE kits which will also include N 95 masks.
3. Govt approves 12 private labs
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday said Indian manufacturers can produce testing kits and supply to private and government laboratories with NIV validation, even if they don’t have approval from the US FDA and European CE.
“We have a fast-tracked approval system,” ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said. “Now kits manufactured in India need NIV validation and then apply to Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for a manufacturing licence.”
The Union government has registered 12 private laboratory chains for conducting tests. The names of some of the prominent labs are given below:
Delhi
- Max Lab, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, New-Delhi
- Dr Dangs Lab, C-2/1, Safdarjung Development Area, NewDelhi
- Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Clinical Lab Services, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi
Gujarat
- Unipath Specialty laboratory limited, 102, Sanoma Plaza, Opposite Parimal Garden, Besides JMC House, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad
- Supratech Micropath Laboratory & Research Institute Pvt Ltd, Kedar, Ahmedabad
Haryana
- Strand Life Sciences, A-17, Sector 34, Gurugram
- Modern Diagnostic & Research Centre-Lab, 363-364/4, Jawahar Nagar, Gurgaon
Karnataka
- Cancyte Technologies Pvt Ltd, Sri Shankara Research Centre, Bengaluru
- Neuberg Anand Reference Laboratory, Anand Tower, #54, Bowring Hospital Road, Bengaluru
Maharashtra
- Thyrocare Technologies Limited, D37/1, TTC MIDC, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai
- Suburban Diagnostics (India) Pvt. Ltd., 306, 307/T, 3rd Floor, Sunshine Bld., Andheri (W), Mumbai
Odisha
Dept of Lab Services, Apollo Hospitals, Bhubaneswar
Tamil Nadu
- Dept. of Clinical Virology, CMC, Vellore
- Department of Laboratory Services, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, Chennai
Telangana
- Laboratory Services, Apollo Hospitals, 6th Floor, Health Street Building, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
- Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Pvt Ltd, Street No 19, Himayath Nagar, Hyderabad
Uttar Pradesh
- RML Mehrotra Pathology Pvt Ltd, Nirala Nagar, Lucknow
- Dept of Lab Medicine, Jaypee Hospital, Sector 128, Noida
Uttarakhand
Dr Ahuja’s Pathology and Imaging Centre, 7-B, Astley Hall, Dehradun
West Bengal
- Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, 58 Canal Circular Road, Kolkata
- Tata Medical Center, Rajarhat, Kolkata
Kerala
- DDRC SRL Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, Panampilly Nagar, Ernakulam
- MIMS Lab Services, Govindapuram, Kozhikode
Overall, there are 15,000 collection centres available in these chains.
The Central and state governments have already made it clear that there is a dearth of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for the health workers.
Despite all the claims, testing kits in the country is low in comparison to several other countries. The essential kits are not available everywhere. The limited availability of PPEs has made the work difficult for the doctors, nurses and other medical staff to perform their duty.
List of organisations working on developing the vaccine against COVID-19
According to Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology, the government has received over 7,000 tech-based proposals from private companies and individuals across the country to fight COVID-19. Swarup further added the government is dealing with several aspects—from scaling up production of low-cost COVID-19 testing kits and ventilators to expediting research for the development of vaccines to fight the novel coronavirus.
More than 20 research institutes including the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are working round the clock to develop vaccines so that the novel coronavirus infected patients can be treated.
1. Gujarat-based Zydus Cadila and Pune’s Serum Institute are working in collaboration with America’s Codagenix in developing COVID-19 vaccines.
2. Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Madison and US-based company FluGen has decided to develop a vaccine, Coro-Flu, for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. This Hyderabad-based company said it will manufacture the vaccine, conduct clinical trials and prepare to produce almost 300 million doses of vaccine for global distribution.
3. Vaccine manufacturer Indian Immunological (IIL) has started research with Griffith University of Australia to develop a vaccine for the deadly novel coronavirus. Scientists of India and Australia are trying to develop ‘live attenuated SARS – CoV-2 vaccine’ using the latest codon deoptimization technology.
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