Biotech firm Mylab developing test to screen multiple Covid variants

Mylab MD Rawal said the firm is making both hardware and software for the test, and it will be ready in the next two months or so

Pune-based biotech firm Mylab Discovery Solutions is working on a new technology platform that would not only detect the presence of coronavirus in a sample, but also be able to screen the variant. The Serum Institute of India (SII)-backed company said that the product would be ready in around two months.

Without divulging details, Hasmukh Rawal, MD of Mylab, told Business Standard the company is working on a molecular diagnostic test that would give results as accurate as of the RT-PCR test. “Unlike the RT-PCR, which takes a few hours to give results, this test platform will be able to give results in minutes. It will also be able to detect or screen the kind of mutation present in the sample,” Rawal said.

Such a test, according to him, would be extremely useful to screen people at various points of entry like airports.

Rawal said Mylab is making both hardware and software for the test, and it will be ready in the next two months or so. Then it would go for approval of government agencies.

Speaking on whether newer RT-PCR kits are necessary to pick up new mutations in the Sars-CoV-2 virus, Rawal said that we have seen more than 15 major variants in the past year. “One cannot make specific kits for all the major variants. Within the month of making it, there can be a region-specific mutation in that variant. Specific mutation detection kits would not make sense, as the treatment or vaccination does not change for different variants,” he explained.

Most of the kits approved by the ICMR are multiple gene kits. These kits do not get affected by minor mutations in the virus, said Rawal. 

They are able to detect the presence of the virus in the sample despite mutations. Companies like Mylab, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Abbott have already said that their kits detect the presence of the Omicron variant of the virus.

In August, Mylab had said that it is now planning to bring in more point of care (POC) coronavirus tests through a partnership with US medical diagnostic company Hemex Health. Under the partnership, Mylab will develop the test assays, while Hemex will provide its Gazelle POC platform for testing coronavirus and other diseases.

In May, the company launched the first Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved self-use rapid antigen test (RAT) kit, CoviSelf, for testing at home; it gives results in 15 minutes and costs Rs 250. Mylab is also the first Indian company to develop an indigenously developed RT-PCR kit in 2020 when the pandemic broke out.

Demand for RT-PCR and RAT tests are low now with low case counts. Rawal said: “We can make 0.8 million tests a day for RT-PCR and 1.5 million rapid antigen tests (RATs) a day. Demand is very low now. Hardly 5 per cent of the capacity is getting utilised now.”