Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions on February 2 announced the launch of CoviSwift, a point of care solution (POC) testing solution that will enable small labs and collection centres to test for coronavirus.
It can be used at small labs, in-hospital labs, airports, villages and allow gold standard testing at high throughputs anywhere, the molecular diagnostic company said in a statement.
"With this solution, we have solved many age-old problems in RT-PCR testing. For example, RT-PCR test components need to be stored and transported at -20 degrees at all times, but the CoviSwift test will be stored and transported at room temperature,” Mylab Managing Director Hasmukh Rawal said.
“This means RT-PCR testing can now reach small towns and villages where cold chains are not available or electricity is not continuously available."
CoviSwift is approximately four times faster than the traditional method of RT-PCR testing while maintaining the gold standard accuracy, the company claimed.
The solution comprises the CoviSwift assay and Compact-Q machines, which process 16 samples in 40 minutes. The company may increase testing capacity in India from 3000 labs to 60,000 labs.
CoviSwift comes with a shelf life of 24 months at room temperature and the test is expected to be available in the market in the coming days, it said.
"We have applied for a series of patents on underlying technologies and we believe this solution will change the face of molecular diagnostics for years to come,” Rawal said.
Infrastructure has been one of the key problems in expanding the reach of RT-PCR in India, the company said. RT-PCR labs need to have special medical grade clean rooms but the POC test can be done in a regular lab, in hospitals or even makeshift labs at airports, or universities, it said.
The machine is the size of a kitchen toaster and can be used like a plug-n-play device. Unlike the traditional RT-PCR, which needs highly trained technicians who can handle reagents at one hundredths of a drop, the kit comes with patented tubes and can be handled by anyone.
The software developed by the company will interpret the results automatically without any expertise in molecular diagnostics.
The user needs to take the nasal sample into tubes, mix and put it into the Compact Q, as simple as a self-test. It will be available in a pack of a single test with all components so that labs do not need to manage reagent storage and logs, it said.
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