Molecular Test maker, Mylabs, said that it has launched a new product called Compact XL which can reduce the manpower and space requirement for conducting an RT-PCR test for COVID 19 and also turnaround results faster.
The company — in which Serum Institute of India’s Adar Poonawalla has invested over Rs 100 crore, so far — said that though it has the capacity to make 2 million tests a week, it is producing less than half of that since “there is no demand”.
Poonawalla said that the government must reconsider its strategy for testing and allow more tests to people who want it. “More testing is the only way to prevent spread till such time a vaccine is found which is six months away,” Poonawalla said.
On vaccine trials, he said that Serum Institute of India will not like to rush through it and bring it out only after thoroughly checking its efficacy.
“It is at least six months away,” he said.
Mylabs said that the new machine which can process 32 tests in a single hour on each machine is priced at Rs 40 lakh.
The company and Poonawalla also appealed to the government to allow exports of the tests so that this can one of the first examples of “make local, go global”.
“There is no demand in India as of now but we can produce more. We are hoping to export also but waiting for blessings of the government,” Poonawalla said.
Mylabs’ director Sujit Jain said, that the company has got many enquiries from European nations and Gulf Co-operation countries.
In India, the company sells each of its tests at less than Rs 1000 per test to government and private labs, which offer it at different rates to people in need.
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