Chennai-based Trivitron Healthcare develops COVID-19 PCR test kit for easier testing
It may take another two to three weeks for the kits to enter the market as Trivitron plans to submit the test kit for approval with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
As the world is trying to adjust with the current Coronavirus pandemic, many organisations and startups are developing products and offering their services to help people and government fight the virus.
One of them is Chennai-based medical technology company Trivitron Healthcare which is developing a COVID-19 PCR test kit that can test hundreds of samples in a day.
PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction is the method where lab technicians collect the sample of an infected people from the throat or nose. However, it may take another two-three weeks for the kits to enter the market as Trivitron plans to submit the test kit with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for approval first.
GSK Velu, Founder, Chairman and MD, Trivitron Healthcare
According to reports, the company had been working on the development of the kit for the last one month and has achieved substantial success in research and development.
The central government is reported to have ordered testing kits from Germany for now. However, Dr GSK Velu, Founder, Chairman and MD of Trivitron, says that the kits made by his company would be half the price of their imported counterparts. Trivitron claims its kits to be 50 to 70 percent cheaper for labs to test samples when compared to other kits.
Apart from the pricing, another advantage is mass production of the kits. Trivitron is said to have the ability to manufacture up to 500 to 1,000 test kits per day. The company said that once the approval is received from NIV-Pune, it will manufacture the kits as per the government’s requirement.
Additionally, Trivitron is developing a kit for point of care testing. With 85 percent accuracy, the point of care kit will test antibodies in minute quantities of blood.
Velu had started Trivitron Healthcare in 1997 with an aim to provide healthcare solutions at affordable costs to a large section of the Indian society. Today it has a turnover of Rs 700 crore.
(Edited by Kanishk Singh)