Mylab Discovery Solutions, a Pune-based firm developing a diagnostic kit for Covid-19, has been selected for Technology Development Board (TDB) funding on Monday, according to sources.

Mylab was the first Indian firm to develop a real-time PCR-based molecular diagnostic kit, which can screenpeople who display flu-like symptoms, based on nasal and throat swabs collected from them. The development and deployment of these kits will result in reduction of dependence on imported Covid-19 test kits.

TDB did not disclose the funding that the firm would receive.

Mylab kit has already been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. The current crisis necessitated the production of kits to be ramped up in a short span of time, thereby making the requirement of automation unavoidable, said a press release. The company approached TDB with the project proposal for automation of their facility. The proposal stipulated automation of the facility from the manual process, resulting in increasing its current capacity from 30,000 tests per day to 1 lakh tests per day. The company is expected to complete the automation within the next few months.

Ashutosh Sharma, Department of Science and Technology, and Chairman, TDB, said: “TDB has done incredible work in cutting down the processing time substantially without compromising on the process. It’s to the credit of the team of young professionals for their concerted and committed efforts at this time of crisis.”

The project evaluation at TDB is quite exhaustive. Prior to the project proposal being approved for financial assistance by the Board, the proposal is evaluated by two separate committees. These committees consist of technical experts short-listed from government/academic institutions and financial experts with over 15 years of experience in project finance, he said.

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