India’s First Homegrown Covid-19 Kit

Brut India

A lab in Pune has launched India's first coronavirus testing kit. They say it’s more affordable than imported devices and its results come out quicker too.

Transcript

00:00Our capacity right now is to manufacture somewhere around 20,000 to 25,000 tests per day, which

00:06converts into 1.5 lakh tests per week.

00:35About this coronavirus, we came to know this somewhere in the last month, but we thought

00:43that it may get confined to China only, it may not spread, but when it goes to Europe

00:49and America, then we decided that it will come to India now, and we started developing

00:55our kit against that.

00:57Basically, we started developing it around six to seven weeks back, the biggest problem

01:02was there were no positive samples, and we were not allowed to use the positive samples.

01:08So we researched this particular virus in the literature circle, and then we used synthetic

01:17DNA to identify what kind of virus this is, and then we started our test.

01:27The first aspect is extraction of the DNA or RNA of the virus, that means we will collect

01:33the samples, the sample is basically for this particular virus is a nasal swab, that means

01:38you have a cotton swab, which you will take in the sample from your nose, and then you

01:44will be putting it into the solution and then try to break the virus capsule, every virus

01:50is encapsulated, it has a coating, and that is the only reason that it is feeling safe inside that.

01:58So, the first thing is to break that wall, and then the DNA or RNA, which for coronavirus

02:06it is RNA, which is a nucleic material, which will come out.

02:09So we have to isolate that RNA and then make a DNA out of that.

02:14So we have to find out that signature, and then we will make billions of copies of that

02:20particular signature so that machine can identify and read it.

02:24So once we make that copy, that particular procedure is known as the PCR, Polymerase

02:29Chain Reaction.

02:30So in that particular procedure, we make billions of copies of that virus and then read it under

02:36the machine, which is called as real-time PCR machine.

02:39So our test is basically extraction of the virus and then making the billions of copies

02:46of that particular virus, and then reading it under the real-time PCR technology.

02:57The old tests which were imported, it was taking somewhere seven hours for one patient.

03:05So our test takes two and a half hours only.

03:08It is basically doing all three parameters together.

03:14So that is why we are saving the time.

03:17In our test, extraction as well as real-time PCR, both we have developed the protocol in

03:21such a way that it can be ramped up a little faster so that we will save the precious time

03:28of the government hospitals and labs.

03:44Why we are cost-effective?

04:02Because we identified the signature uniquely.

04:04Unlike the other companies, we have the signature which is unique in the sense that we have

04:12the protocol or we have the signature which can identify virus without missing even a

04:17single incidence.

04:18The exact cost difference is, if we compare it with the imported kits, we are almost 40

04:25to 50 percent less in the cost.

04:30And why it is so?

04:31Because we are Indian.

04:32When you import kit, the cost is basically derived as per their own standards.

04:39See in US or UK or even in all developed countries, this particular treatment is insured.

04:46So they have insurance cover and nobody bothers that what kind of cost it will come.

04:53But in India, we have to pay from our pocket.

04:55So we have to make the kit or we have to make the test which a common Indian person can

05:03afford.

05:04So that was our vision.

05:05So the cost difference is not only in the manufacturing.

05:08It is also in our mentality.

05:10We want to have this particular technology getting democratized.

05:16That means not only the privileged section of Indian society, but the mass of the Indian

05:20society shall afford the highest technology available in the world.

05:25That is our thought process.

05:27Our capacity right now is to manufacture somewhere around 20,000 to 25,000 tests per day, which

05:41converts into 1.5 lakh tests per week.

05:44And we are ramping up our facility.

05:48We should reach somewhere to the tune of 50,000 tests per day.

05:52And in a course of say two weeks, it will be 1 lakh tests per week, per day.

06:12We have a lot of inquiries, not only from the Middle East or from Africa, we have inquiries

06:19from the USA and Europe also.

06:22But our capacity is like right now, we first want to give preference to Indian society.

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