Richcore Lifesciences, a Bengaluru-based biotech company, in a public-private partnership with scientists from IISER Chandigarh/Pune and IISC, has optimised and produced two key enzymes needed for developing RT PCR test kits for Covid-19.
The two key enzymes —Taq Polymerase and Reverse Transcriptase — were hitherto proving to be a key bottleneck in India’s efforts to mass produce indigenous test kits.
The development of the enzymes is part of the National Biomedical Resource Indigenisation Consortium’s (NBRIC) exercise to identify import substitutes for kits through a public-private partnership (PPp) model.
“We are currently providing enzyme samples to test kit manufacturers to confirm the stability and consistency of our enzymes. Once approved, we will be able to mass produce CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) certified enzymes for millions of test kits in a few weeks,” said R Subramani, CMD of Richcore.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chair of NBRIC Governing Council, said: “I am pleased to see Richcore respond so rapidly to develop these key components for RT PCR tests, which is a reflection on their expertise. I am confident that we will have 100 per cent Made in India Covid-19 kits in the imminent future,”
Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director of C-CAMP (Centre for Cellular And Molecular Platforms) CEO, and also Convener of NBRIC Governing Council, said: “As India fights the Covid19 pandemic, we need key enzymes and reagents in large scale to address the urgent need of testing kits across India. This recent development from Richcore further strengthens our efforts and takes us towards a more self-reliant ecosystem during these difficult times. NBRIC will work with all stakeholders and bring more development to the fore, with an aim of a joint fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Constituted by the Department of Biotechnology, and hosted and led by C-CAMP, NBRIC is a collaborative PPP to drive indigenous innovation focussed on developing reagents, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for Covid-19 and beyond.