Pune-based Mylab gets ICMR nod for its antigen testing kit for COVID-19
Mylab said the product - 'Pathocatch COVID-19 Antigen Rapid testing kit' - is developed and manufactured in India, and will be priced around Rs 450
Pune-based on Wednesday said it has received commercial approval from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for its antigen testing kit for COVID-19.
The product, named 'Pathocatch COVID-19 Antigen Rapid testing kit', is developed and manufactured in India, Mylab said in a statement.
L-R : Abhijit Pawar, Adar Poonawalla, Hasmukh Rawal, Sujit Jain, Shailendra Kawade
The kit will be available for orders immediately and will be priced around Rs 450, it added.
The development adds another product to the company's suite of testing solutions for COVID-19 virus, Mylab said.
"After bringing an affordable RT-PCR test to reduce dependence on foreign kits, we launched Compact XL to accelerate COVID-19 testing. Now, with the approval for an antigen testing kit, we will cover whole spectrum of COVID-19 testing and leave no stone unturned to fight this pandemic," Mylab Discovery Solutions MD Hasmukh Rawal said.
Health experts believe that to keep up with the pace of infections, India needs a combination of both antigen and RT-PCR testing, the statement said.
Earlier in April, the Pune-based molecular diagnostics firm Mylab Discovery Solutions had partnered with Serum India CEO Adar Poonawalla and AP Globale Chairman Abhijit Pawar to scale up the operations and escalate faster delivery of its COVID-19 testing kits.
The test kit by the company was the first 'Made in India' kit to receive commercial approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSC), and is named as Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19 Qualitative PCR kit, it had earlier said.
Mylab's COVID-19 test kit screens and detects the infection within 2.5 hours as compared to over seven hours taken by current protocols, the company had earlier said.
The Biotechnology firm offers a wide spectrum of molecular diagnostics solutions, developed in-house by its research and development team in Pune.
(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)
Edited by Megha Reddy