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4 BIO CONTENT BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

COVER
DESIGN BY:
DOMINIX STRATEGIC
DESIGN PVT. LTD.

COVER STORY 19....................................................................................................... 27

BUILDING INDIGENOUS COVID-19 testing continues
DIAGNOSTIC CAPABILITIES to be a pressing issue

India is facing a bigger burden of not having enough diagnostic kits in Dr P. Siva Kumar,
hand. Specifically, there is a shortage of reagents and consumables
required to carry out the diagnostic tests for COVID-19. In order to Medical Technology Advisor,
overcome this burden, India is reaching out to South Korea, USA, Germany ESI MedTek Solutions, New Delhi
and China to arrange for more kits in order to increase the current testing
capacity for COVID-19. Although this step might help India to some extent
in its current containment plan, the real need can only be fulfilled by
accelerating indigenous COVID-19 diagnostics manufacturing.

COVID-19 34

29 Enhancing digital

Is PPE shortage patient engagement
driving adoption
of robots for 32
assistance?
If wishes were vaccines…

36

Traditional medicines

& COVID-19

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com TOPVIDEO BIO CONTENT 5

SPEAKINGWITH Praveen Gupta,
40 Managing Director,
Premas Life
“Our efforts are focused Sciences, Gurugram
on offering a safe and talks about how
efficacious COVID-19 vaccine” the ‘Make in India’
Dr Sharvil Patel, approach for the
Lifesciences sector
Managing Director, can be taken to the
Zydus Cadila, Ahmedabad next level.

42 Scan the QR Code »

“We intend to establish Dr Rakesh Mishra,
Takeda India as a CoE Director, Centre for
in clinical research” Cellular & Molecular
Koki Sato, Biology (CCMB),
Hyderabad shares
General Manager, his views on the
Takeda Pharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai current challenges
facing India in the
REGULARS diagnostic space.

BioEdit........................................................................06
BioMail........................................................................08
Policy and Regulatory News.....................................09
Company News..........................................................11
Finance News.............................................................13
Start-up News............................................................14
WHO News.................................................................16
World News................................................................17
Academic News.........................................................44
R&D News...................................................................46
Supplier News............................................................48
People News..............................................................50

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6 BIO EDIT BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

Upcoming Cost
& Supply issues

The whole world is waiting with bated breath WHO warnings apart, even if a vaccine or
for effective medicine and/or vaccine to medicine is available, two issues that will have serious
combat COVID-19 as that is the only solution bearing on the development are cost and supply
to overcome the pandemic. The scene on that front time. As per the initial estimate the cost of Oxford-
is still confusing with different positive and negative Serum Institute vaccine would be Rs 1000. And it is
news of claims and counter claims being bombarded from a company which is not known for exploiting
each day. situations to make heavy profits. So, one can imagine
what will be the cost of other vaccines or medicines if
Over 100 efforts are on across the world at developed successfully and who will be able to afford
different stages to develop a vaccine or medicine. it, particularly in developing and poor countries.
Some existing medicines which are being used for
different diseases are also being tested for COVID-19 Take the case of Gilead’s Remdesivir. If this proves
with claims of encouraging results. to be effective against COVID-19, still its availability at
affordable price may be a dream unless the company
Two leading Indian companies from the vaccine adopts a different approach since it is a patented drug
sector – Hyderabad-based Indian Immunological Ltd. in over 70 countries for the next 11 years.
(IIL) and Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII)
- have partnered with Australis’s Griffith University Forty countries have pledged $8 billion for vaccine
and UK’s Oxford University respectively. Other Indian development, treatment and test kits production. But
biotech & pharma companies involved in this effort how the successful outcome of these efforts will reach
include Hyderabad’s Bharat Biotech, Ahmedabad’s to the people who cannot afford the price is still a
Zydus, Gurugram’s Premas Biotech, Ahmedabad’s question.
Hester Biosciences, Neuberg Supratech and Mynvax.
On the therapy front, Glenmark is conducting The second issue is production rate and supply.
trials with antiviral drug favipiravir as a potential Almost all the countries are waiting for the vaccine
treatment. or medicine as in several countries the healthcare
systems are under tremendous pressure with the
From the vaccine point of view India’s burden of patients’ growing number.
performance is important as it produces 60 per
cent of the world’s vaccines and accounts for 60 to When the vaccine production will begin in any
80 per cent of the United Nations’ annual vaccine country, it is likely to supply it first to its own people.
procurement. How will the priority of other countries for supplying
vaccine will be decided is another crucial issue? Again,
Suddenly, three important announcements have money may play an important role and the poor
come, each from Israel, Italy and the US, claiming countries may suffer. Simultaneous production by
major breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine. Takis different companies in different countries could be
from Italy claims that it’s vaccine has successfully one solution provided the company which would be
neutralized SARS-CoV2 virus in animals. Israel has successful in developing the vaccine will be willing to
claimed that it’s Institute for Biological Research provide the know-how to others at a reasonable price.
has developed an antibody to the coronavirus. And
Moderna in the US has joined the queue of claiming The success in vaccine or medicine development
success in making an mRNA vaccine. is thus likely to trigger a different kind of race among
different countries and companies. WHO and
Despite all these efforts that have reached at governments of different countries will have to play a
different stages nothing will be available before key role in such a scenario. They will have to start the
September if one goes by all news reports. More preparation now only.
surprising are the warnings from WHO that the
vaccine/medicine may take even two years and even a Milind Kokje
possibility of having no vaccine developed at all. Chief Editor

[email protected]



8 BIO MMAAIILL BBIOIOSSPPEECCTTRRUUMM || AJPURNILE 22002200 || wwwwww..bbiioossppeeccttrruummiinnddiiaa..ccoomm

VVooll 1188;; IIssssuuee 53;; MMaayrc2h0220020

Acknowledgments

The coverage on women leaders and achievers looks awesome. Thank you for

Afecatkunroinwg lBehdagreatmBeionttesch. The whole May issue has come out very

The article ‘A relief or added threat for well-. GMrueartawliodrhk.aran, Hyderabad

India’ in the May edition looks good. - Dorothy Paul, Hyderabad

Thank you for making me a part of your

mThaagnakziynoeu. for the lovely coverage in the March edition celebrating womanhood.

- Dr Himanshu Vashistha, -CS-uCbAhMaPdwraasDdrealivgihdtaed, Htoydberaabpadrt of

New Delhi your webinar on ‘Exploring various

aspects of COVID-19’. Looking

forward to more participation in the

Tcohuanntkryy,oausffoeratuhreeodpipnoBrtiuonSpiteycttorutmak’es March efudtiutiroen.. Thank you so much

part in your cover story. - Prof. App-aDRraDoePboadrsilhei,nHi yCdhearakbraadborty,

- Dr Sunit Maity, Bengaluru Bengaluru

The interaction with BaselArea.swiss has come out very well in the March edition.
- Krishna Bhatia, Mumbai

Vol 18; Issuuee 46;;AJpurniel 22002200 MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications

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BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com POLICY AND REGULATORY NEWS 9

India signs $1.5B loan with PM CARES
ADB for COVID-19 response Fund allocates
Rs 3100 Cr
The Government of India and and to build resilience to future for COVID-19
the Asian Development Bank shocks. This includes the support
(ADB) have signed a $1.5 for the affected industries and PM CARES (Prime
billion loan that will support entrepreneurs particularly Minister’s Citizen
the government’s response to micro, small, and medium- Assistance and Relief in
the novel coronavirus disease sized enterprises (MSMEs) by Emergency Situations)
pandemic, focusing on immediate facilitating their access to finance Fund Trust has decided to
priorities such as disease through credit guarantee schemes, allocate Rs 3100 crore for
containment and prevention, as MSME integration into global fight against COVID-19.
well as social protection for the and national value chains through Out of Rs 3100 crore, a
poor and economically vulnerable enterprise development centers, sum of approximately
sections of the society, especially and a credit enhancement facility Rs 2000 crore will
women and disadvantaged for infrastructure projects. be earmarked for the
groups. Building on the CARES purchase of ventilators, Rs
programme, ADB is also in 1000 crore will be used for
dialogue with the government care of migrant labourers
for further possible support and Rs 100 crore will
for stimulating the economy, be given to support
support strong growth recovery, vaccine development.
For augmenting the
DBT constitutes NBRIC infrastructure to tackle
to drive indigenous innovation COVID-19 cases across the
country, 50,000 ‘Made-
National Biomedical Resource Indigenisation Consortium (NBRIC) has been in-India’ ventilators will
constituted by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science be purchased from PM
and Technology, Government of India as a Public Private Partnership to CARES Fund at a cost of
drive indigenous innovation focused on developing reagents, diagnostics, approximately Rs 2000
vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19. NBRIC has begun mapping of crore. These ventilators
manufacturers of reagents and consumables for COVID-19 RT-PCR testing will be provided to
kits. Hosted and led by Bengaluru based Centre for Cellular and Molecular government run COVID
Platforms (C-CAMP), NBRIC aims to be a nation-wide collaborative platform hospitals in all states/
for convergence of research, product resources and services towards UTs, for better treatment
developing reagents, diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics across India. of the critical COVID-19
cases.

A Millipore® mind understands that setting The Life Science Business of Preparation, Separation,
standards moves our industry forward. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Filtration & Monitoring Products
operates as MilliporeSigma in the
Understanding your world drives everything we do. Our products US and Canada.
and support constantly redefine reliability and performance at
every stage to ensure you stay ahead of the curve.

To find out more, visit:
SigmaAldrich.com/MilliporeMind

MilliporeSigma, the vibrant M and Millipore are trademarks of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Detailed
information on trademarks is available via publicly accessible resources.
© 2020 Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and/or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

10 POLICY AND REGULATORY NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

Gujarat inks DBT-BIRAC names 70 COVID-19
MoU to proposals for funding
accelerate
COVID-19 To urgently develop safe and BIRAC have continuously
research and effective biomedical been evaluating applications
solutions against SARS CoV-2, with an intent to support
Gujarat Biotechnology Research Department of Biotechnology industry, academia and
Centre, a Gujarat government and Biotechnology Industry jointly academia & industry
arm, has signed a Memorandum Research Assistance Council for developing diagnostics,
of Understanding (MoU) with (BIRAC) had invited vaccines, novel therapeutics,
Neuberg Supratech Reference applications for COVID-19 repurposing of drugs or any
Laboratory, Ahmedabad, a Research Consortium. In other intervention for control
unit of Neuberg Diagnostics addition, BIRAC has also of COVID-19. Through a
for developing COVID-19 created a provision to fund rolling multitiered review
recombinant vaccine and COVID-19 solutions that mechanism, 70 proposals of
diagnostics. The MoU was are ready for immediate devices, diagnostics, vaccine
signed in the presence of the deployment under a ‘Fast candidates, therapeutics and
Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Track Review Process’. Under other interventions have been
Rupani. As part of the 5 years the research consortium, DBT recommended for receiving
agreement, Neuberg Supratech financial support. The
will work on two projects for the shortlisted proposals include
Government of Gujarat. The first 10 vaccines candidates, 34
project is for COVID-19 vaccine diagnostics products or scale-
development, wherein Neuberg up facilities, 10 therapeutics
will look for immune markers for options, 2 proposals on drug
the COVID-19 positive patients. repurposing and 14 projects
The company plans to use several which are categorised as
of its in-house high throughput preventive interventions.
sequencing machines for this
project. The second project HCG gets DCGI approval
involves developing cost effective for cytokine therapy trial
post viral extraction procedures.
Currently the spend is around In an attempt to find possible solution to the COVID-19 affected, the
Rs 3,500 for consumables for Centre of Academic Research of HCG Cancer Hospital, Begaluru has
RT-PCR testing. Neuberg aims received permission from DCGI (Drug Controller General of India) to
to bring the cost down to below conduct cytokine therapy trial on humans, named as I-Crest protocol
Rs 1,000. For this the company (Immuno-modulatory Cell-deRived cytokine ES Therapy). Acclaimed
will optimise the RT-PCR testing as the first such development in the world, the World Health
consumables and procedures that Organisation (WHO) registered clinical trial of cytokine therapy
are presently being used. gained momentum with the encouraging support from Government
of India and Government of Karnataka. Karnataka COVID task force
under B.S. Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka and led by B
Sriramulu, Minister for Health and Family Welfare & Backward
Classes Welfare, Dr Sudhakar K, Minister for Medical Education,
and Dr Ashwathnarayan C. N, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka,
Government of Karnataka has set exemplary efforts in driving the
clinical trial, therefore strengthening the fight against COVID-19 in
the country. The therapy recently concluded animal studies showing
desired results and has received approval for single-centre, non-
randomized, single-arm, open-label, proof-of-concept, first-in-
man interventional trial. The trial will be conducted at HCG Cancer
Hospital, Bengaluru.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COMPANY NEWS 11

Zydus launches Enzalutamide Glenmark
for prostate cancer initiates phase-
3 trials on
Ahmedabad based Zydus at Rs 5995 (weekly therapy) Favipiravir for
Cadila, a global innovation reducing the monthly treatment COVID-19
driven healthcare company, cost to less than Rs 27000. The
announced that it is launching current price of Enzalutamide Mumbai based Glenmark
Enzalutamide, a highly effective drug ranges from Rs 70000 to Pharmaceuticals, a research-led
drug for the treatment of Rs 80000 for a monthly therapy integrated global pharmaceutical
prostate cancer, under the and can be a huge financial company, has initiated phase 3
brand name Obnyx in India. burden for the elderly patients clinical trials in India on antiviral
In a step that can significantly as they need to continue the tablet Favipiravir, for which it
reduce treatment cost by almost therapy for a long period of time. received approval from India’s
70 per cent, the drug is priced This price reduction will benefit drug regulator DCGI in late April.
many prostate cancer patients Glenmark is the first company in
to adhere to the treatment. India to initiate phase 3 clinical
Zydus’ Obnyx scores over other trials on Favipiravir for COVID-19
formulations in the market as it patients in India. Favipiravir is
is a soft gel capsule filled with a generic version of Avigan of
liquid, similar to the innovator Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, Japan, a
drug. This has been specially subsidiary of Fujifilm Corporation.
developed through in-house Clinical trials have commenced and
efforts. The other formulations over 10 leading government and
available in the market are hard private hospitals in India are being
gelatin capsules. enrolled for the study. Glenmark
estimates study completion by
Jubilant inks licensing deal July/August 2020. Glenmark has
with Gilead for Remdesivir successfully developed the API and
the formulations for the product
Jubilant Life Sciences Limited, an integrated global pharmaceutical through its in-house R&D team.
and life sciences company, announced that its subsidiary, Jubilant Favipiravir has demonstrated
Generics Limited, has entered into a non-exclusive Licensing activity against influenza viruses
Agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. that will grant Jubilant the and has been approved in Japan
right to register, manufacture and sell Gilead’s investigational for the treatment of novel influenza
drug, remdesivir, virus infections. The molecule if
a potential therapy commercialized, will be marketed
for COVID-19 in 127 under the brand name FabiFlu in
countries including India.
India. Under the
licensing agreement,
Jubilant will have
the right to receive a
technology transfer
of the Gilead
manufacturing
process to scale up
production to enable expedited access of the medicine to COVID-19
patients upon approvals by regulatory authorities in respective
countries. Multiple additional clinical trials are ongoing to generate
more data on the safety and efficacy of remdesivir as a treatment for
COVID-19. Remdesivir remains an investigational drug and has not
been approved by USFDA.

12 COMPANY NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

Roche Diagnostics India unveils
Elecsys Anti‑SARS‑CoV‑2 assay

Roche Diagnostics India has is an immunoassay for the in throughput of up to 300 tests/
announced that it is bringing vitro qualitative detection of hour, depending on the analyzer.
their serology-based SARS- antibodies (including IgG) Elecsys Anti‑SARS‑CoV‑2 test
CoV-2 test - Elecsys Anti- to Severe Acute Respiratory may also be used together with
SARS-CoV-2 – having received Syndrome Coronavirus 2 molecular tests, like Roche’s
the Import License issued by (SARS‑CoV‑2) in human serum cobas SARSCoV-2 PCR test, to
the Central Drug Standard and plasma. The test is intended aid in the diagnosis of suspected
Control Organization (CDSCO), as an aid in the determination COVID-19 patients.
due to the emergency health of the immune reaction to
situation in public interest. It is SARS‑CoV‑2. The test runs on
significant to note that the test all cobas e-analysers, and these
received CE IVD certification fully automated systems can
and USFDA emergency use provide SARS-CoV-2 test results
authorization (EUA) a few days in approximately 18 minutes
ago. Elecsys Anti‑SARS‑CoV‑2 for a single test, with a test

Bharat Biotech leads Strides commences
CSIR-NMITLI project export of Favipiravir
to fight COVID-19
Bengaluru based Strides Pharma Science
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Limited, a global pharmaceutical company
(CSIR) under its flagship programme New Millennium has announced that it has developed and
Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) commercialized Favipiravir antiviral tablets. The
has sanctioned a project to develop human monoclonal product is a generic version of Avigan of Toyama
antibodies as therapy for COVID-19 infections. The Chemical, Japan. Favipiravir is an antiviral
project is being led by Hyderabad based company medication that was initially developed to
Bharat Biotech, a leading manufacturer of vaccines treat influenza in Japan. Strides has developed
and bio-therapeutics. This programme brings together Favipiravir tablets in 400mg and 200mg
academia - National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), strengths for convenient dosage administration.
Pune and Indian Institute of Technology, Indore and The product is currently being exported to Gulf
industry - PredOmix Technologies, Gurugram and Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to treat
Bharat Biotech in a collaborative mode for a public patients under their treatment program for
health emergency. The present project aims at an COVID-19. Strides will also immediately apply to
alternate therapeutic regimen by generating highly Indian Drug Authorities to commence necessary
effective and specific human monoclonal antibodies studies and make the drug available to Indian
that are capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV2 patients expeditiously. Favipiravir tablets are
virus. Such virus-neutralizing antibodies can block being manufactured at Strides’ flagship facility
the spread of infection by binding to the virus and in Bengaluru, India. The facility can produce
rendering it ineffective. Monoclonal antibody therapy up to 6 billion units of solid orals annually and
is a highly effective and safe method. is approved by USFDA, MHRA, WHO, TGA
among others. Strides has also entered into a
preferred arrangement with a leading Indian API
manufacturer for the supplies of Favipiravir API.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com FINANCE NEWS 13

CVC Capital picks FICCI-EY study reveals
up stake in HCG economic impact of pandemic

US based private equity fund CVC The Federation of Indian vis pre-COVID occupancy
Capital has agreed to acquire about Chambers of Commerce levels of ~65-70 per cent.
36.48 per cent stake in Bengaluru and Industry (FICCI) in This is expected to reduce
based cancer care chain Healthcare partnership with Ernst & even further. Impact on
Global Enterprises (HCG) through Young (EY), carried out a diagnostic labs is even
a preferential allotment of shares. study of the economic impact worse, with almost 80 per
As part of the transaction, HCG will of COVID-19 on private cent fall in patient visits and
issue 29 million equity shares and 22 healthcare sector. The report revenue. FICCI-EY report
million convertible warrants to CVC. reveals that the private recommends government
CVC Capital Partners is a private hospitals and laboratories, support through liquidity
equity and investment advisory firm which were already facing infusion for financing of the
withapproximately $111 billion in multiple challenges, will operating losses through
secured commitments since inception witness an acute crisis due short term interest free or
across European and Asian private to COVID-19, which has concessional interest rate
equity, credit and growth funds. resulted in occupancy levels loans to address the liquidity
to fall to a mere 40 per gap to the tune of Rs 14,000
cent by late-March vis-à- -24,000 crore.

Carlyle acquires major stake in SeQuent Scientific

Global investment firm The share. Pursuant to the Securities pharmaceutical ingredients (API),
Carlyle Group and the existing and Exchange Board of India formulations, and analytical
promoters of SeQuent Scientific (SEBI)’s takeover regulations, services in over 100 countries,
Limited have announced the proposed transaction will with more than 1,700 employees
that CA Harbor Investments, trigger a mandatory open offer and manufacturing operations in
an affiliated entity of CAP V by CA Harbor Investments and India, Spain, Turkey, Germany
Mauritius Limited and The CAP V Mauritius Limited for and Brazil.
Carlyle Group, has agreed to the purchase of up to 26 per
acquire an equity stake of up to cent equity shares of SeQuent
74 per cent in SeQuent Scientific from public shareholders to
Limited, the largest pure-play be identified in the open offer
animal healthcare company in documents. Headquartered
India. CA Harbor Investments in Mumbai, SeQuent is the
proposes to acquire a majority largest Indian pure-play animal
stake in SeQuent via private healthcare company with
share purchase agreements, for global operations. SeQuent
a purchase price of Rs 86 per provides animal health active

14 START UP NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

NIRAMAI offers automated fever test for COVID-19 screening

Bengaluru based startup accurate measurement

NIRAMAI offers an of the temperature of

automated FeverTest each person, counts

for COVID-19 screening a number of people

that helps identify screening, and those of

likely infected people which those who were

at the entrances of found with suspected

hospitals, workplaces, fever are isolated with

and public places and snapshots of people

helps in controlling the made available to

spread. NIRAMAI’s concerned security

solution is aimed towards enabling over thermal images). NIRAMAI authorities. This centralized data
solution adds further AI-based
automated screening of population analysis to make it more suitable collection enables data analysis and
for COVID Screening. NIRAMAI
by checking not only for fever but FeverTest performs face detection integration with other solutions,
in the thermal stream and enables
also for respiratory abnormalities such as facial recognition, alarm

using its Thermalytix solution systems and more, for effective

(Artificial Intelligence Algorithms response and tracking.

Kreator 3D develops Ratan Tata
cost effective ventilator invests in startup
Generic Aadhaar
Kreator 3D, a Chennai to make their designs
based startup primarily available as an open- Leading business icon and philanthropist
into manufacturing of 3D source file owing to the Ratan Tata in his personal capacity has
printers, has collaborated prevalent COVID-19 invested an undisclosed amount in 18-year
with SRM Institute of situation in the country, old’ innovative pharmaceutical venture
Science and Technology to ensure maximum Generic Aadhaar, based in Thane. Generic
and Rizel Automotive, reach of the product. The Aadhaar follows a unique business model;
Chennai to design an SRM Innovation and viz a pharmacy-aggregator business model
easy-to-manufacture and Design Centre oversees sourcing generic drugs directly from the
cost-effective ventilator. the innovation activities manufacturer and providing it to the retailers,
Final assembling and in the institute through thereby cutting out the middlemen completely
testing has been done its incubation center and and delivering medicines to masses at a much
and the device is now provides the FABLAB, a lesser cost. It is a B2B2C model that aims at
being submitted for one-stop shop equipped providing Indians with affordable medication
necessary approvals to with all necessary by supporting single medical stores across the
requisite medical bodies. equipment and tools to nation which otherwise face competition from
The team has decided its students. big brands and online pharmacies. Under
Generic Aadhaar, the company provides
quality and affordable medication directly
from WHO-GMP facility and has tied up with
30 retailers from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore
and Odisha following a profit-sharing model.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com START UP NEWS 15

Mylab increases production capacity of COVID-19 kits

Pune based startup including labs and hospitals in company has been able
Mylab Discovery over 20 states of India. With to deliver test kits across
Solutions has the support of India Post, the different parts of the
completed expansion country including Armed
of its production Forces Medical College
capacity to manufacture in Pune, District Mineral
COVID-19 RT-PCR Foundation of Odisha, and
tests. As per the R & R Army Hospital of
production plan, Delhi. The startup has also
Mylab is scaling up received approval from
manufacturing to 2 Indian Council of Medical
lakh tests per day. Until Research (ICMR) for its
now Mylab has already RNA extraction kit, Maverick,
manufactured 6.5 lakh tests and to further streamline the RT-PCR
has supplied tests to 140 sites testing process.

Relex Health focuses on
medication therapy management

Bengaluru based startup Relex the management of multiple Doceree secures
Health recently announced a medications often lead to $1M in seed
first-of-its-kind Medication poor medication adherence. funding round
Therapy Management Relex’s focus is on chronic
Programme in India. This care and special care required New Delhi based startup
programme addresses the for COVID-19 patients. The Doceree Inc., which operates an
serious public health problem COVID-19 pandemic created eponymous health-technology
of Medication Adherence. It is disruption and placed huge firm focused on physician
a unique home-service model strain on healthcare systems engagement, has raised $1 million
that plays an important role in worldwide including India. in its seed funding round. The
controlling chronic conditions, Relex Health went about round was led by Beyond Codes
treating temporary conditions, doing what they are best at- founder and CEO Kumar Gaurav,
and overall long-term health taking care of their patients with participation from a group of
and well-being. In order to and facilitating Medication angel investors in India and the
extend its support in Bengaluru, Adherence. In a short period US. Doceree will use the funds for
Relex Health is also proceeding of time, Relex arranged full customer acquisition, recruiting
with special community medication of the entire talent, scaling up its operations in
service initiatives outside its prescription with 100 per cent India and the US, and enhancing
core management program to fill to its entire patient base its technological infrastructure.
help patients quickly get their so that all of them would have Its programmatic physician
medicines with high fulfilment. stock for 60 days and none of engagement platform aims to
Forgetfulness and difficulty in them would miss medication. address rising healthcare costs by
using data-oriented technology
to add efficiency to physician
engagement and other related
metrics in the ecosystem.

16 WHO NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

WHO puts focus WHO Academy app to
on investment for support health workers
mental health crisis
WHO announces the launch of the WHO Academy app
The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting designed to support health workers during COVID-19,
the need to urgently increase investment in and the WHO Info app designed to inform the general
services for mental health or risk a massive public. The app provides health workers with mobile
increase in mental health conditions in the access to a wealth of COVID-19 knowledge resources,
coming months, according to a policy brief developed by WHO, that include up-to-the-minute
on COVID-19 and mental health issued by guidance, tools, training, and virtual workshops that
the United Nations. According to the World will help them care for COVID-19 patients and protect
Health Organisation (WHO), it is critical that themselves. The app is built around the needs expressed
people living with mental health conditions by 20,000
have continued access to treatment. Changes global health
in approaches to provision of mental health workers in a
care and psychosocial support are showing WHO Academy
signs of success in some countries. As a survey
result, WHO is putting focus on developing conducted in
and funding national plans that shift care March of 2020.
away from institutions to community The survey
services, ensuring coverage for mental health found that
conditions in health insurance packages and two-thirds of
building the human resource capacity to respondents
deliver quality mental health and social care feel they need
in the community. to be more
prepared,
particularly
in infection
prevention and control, case management, use of
personal protective equipment and occupational safety,
and risk communication and community engagement.
The establishment of the WHO Academy, based in
Lyon, France, is planned for launch in May 2021. The
state-of-the-art lifelong learning centre, will apply the
latest technologies and adult learning science to meet
the learning needs of millions of health workers, policy
makers, and WHO staff around the world.

WHO, EIB strengthen efforts to combat COVID-19

The World Health the world’s largest international headquarters in Geneva
Organization (WHO) and public bank, announced at WHO recently, will help increase
the European Investment resilience to reduce the
Bank (EIB) will boost health and social impact of
cooperation to strengthen future health emergencies.
public health, supply The WHO and the EIB will
of essential equipment, increase cooperation to help
training and hygiene governments in low- and
investment in countries middle-income countries to
most vulnerable to the finance and secure access to
COVID-19 pandemic. The essential medical supplies
new partnership between the and protective equipment through
United Nations health agency and central procurement.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com WORLD NEWS 17

UK provides £2.67M to support GSK
Pakistan healthcare systems Bangladesh
gives PPEs,
The United Kingdom masks to
Health Ministry
(UK) will provide £2.67
GSK Bangladesh recently donated
million to Pakistan 20,000 pieces of N-95 masks,
10,000 pieces of FFP2 masks, and
to help support its 16,000 pairs of gloves to Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare
healthcare systems (MOHFW) for frontline healthcare
professionals in their fight against
during the coronavirus COVID-19. N-95 masks and
Personal Protective Equipment
pandemic. The grant will (PPEs) are critical for the safety
of the frontline healthcare
help Pakistan to provide workers working during the
current pandemic situation in
medical assistance to the country and are in first hand
danger of exposure to the deadly
the seriously ill, build virus. Earlier, GSK Bangladesh
also extended their support
stronger systems to by donating PPEs and other
essentials among law enforcers
detect and test COVID-19 and support communities to have the right and healthcare professionals in
Gazipur district in Bangladesh
information to protect themselves. These funds will help people in through the Health Access
and Linkage Opportunities for
27 districts across all five provinces of Pakistan. The wider package Workers Plus (HALOW+) project.
450 pieces of PPE along with 450
of support which the UK will roll out over the coming weeks will pieces of eye shields, 400 boxes of
disposable masks and hand gloves,
repurpose Department for International Development (DFID) 400 liters of hand sanitizer and
155 disinfectant spray machines
programme of assistance to ensure it helps those at risk and the most were distributed.

vulnerable during the pandemic.

Zydus, Sunshine donate 100k
HCQ tablets in Sri Lanka

Further supporting the national guidelines recommended by the
efforts to combat COVID-19, Epidemiology Unit of Ministry
Sunshine Healthcare Lanka, of Health. Sunshine Healthcare
a fully-owned subsidiary of is a leading market expansion
the diversified conglomerate services provider, with the
Sunshine Holdings most extensive specialized
recently donated 100,000 healthcare team, with over
hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) 300 medical marketing and
sulfate tablets (200mg), sales personnel as well as
manufactured by Zydus 200 physical distribution
Cadila, one of the leading personnel. The company offers
pharmaceutical companies the local healthcare industry
present in Sri Lanka to the a broad range of customized
Ministry of Health by the staff services from registration
of Sunshine Healthcare. The to importation, customs
tablets, which are worth Rs 3.6 clearance, sales, marketing and
million, will significantly help merchandising, warehousing,
in treating COVID-19 positive physical distribution, invoicing
patients as per the treatment and cash collection.

18 WORLD NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

FDA approves first CRISPR
test for coronavirus detection

US based Sherlock the detection of the virus that
Biosciences, has announced causes COVID-19, providing
that the company has received results in approximately one
Emergency Use Authorization hour. It’s the first emergency-
(EUA) from the U.S. Food use approval from the US
and Drug Administration drug regulator to detect
(FDA) for its Sherlock coronavirus using gene-
CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for editing technology CRISPR.
Based on the SHERLOCK
method, which stands for Zyus to develop
Specific High-sensitivity plant-based
Enzymatic Reporter vaccine for
unLOCKing, the kit works COVID-19
by programming a CRISPR
molecule to detect the ZYUS Life Sciences Inc.,
presence of a specific genetic a Canada based company
signature of SARS-CoV-2 in dedicated to improving
nasal swab, nasopharyngeal quality of life through
swab, oropharyngeal swab or research and leadership
bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in bio-pharmaceuticals
specimen. When the signature and the development of
is found, the CRISPR enzyme innovative cannabinoid-based
is activated and releases a formulations and product
detectable signal. candidates, announced that
it is collaborating with the
Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Infectious Disease
vaccine enters phase-2 trial Organization-International
Vaccine Centre (VIDO-
US based Moderna, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company InterVac) at the University of
pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to Saskatchewan, a world leader
create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, in developing vaccines and
has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) technologies against infectious
has granted Fast Track designation for the company’s mRNA vaccine diseases, to test plant produced
candidate (mRNA-1273) against the antigens in a vaccine for
novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19. ZYUS will leverage
Fast Track designation underscores its bio-pharmaceutical plant
the urgent need for a vaccine technology platform and
against the novel coronavirus. As expertise to develop and express
the company awaits the full set of a protein that VIDO-InterVac
clinical data from the NIAID-led has identified as a potential
phase 1 study, it is actively preparing antigen for a COVID-19 vaccine.
for phase-2 and phase-3 clinical This protein will be isolated by
studies to continue learning about ZYUS in its plant expression
the potential of mRNA-1273 to system and will provide insights
protect against SARS-CoV-2. mRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine against into whether plants can produce
SARS-CoV-2 encoding for a prefusion stabilized form of the Spike antigens that are usable in a
(S) protein, which was selected by Moderna in collaboration with COVID-19 vaccine.
investigators from Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVER STORY 19

Building indigenous

DIAGNOSTIC
CAPABILITIES
India is facing a bigger burden of not having enough diagnostic kits in hand. Specifically,
there is a shortage of reagents and consumables required to carry out the diagnostic
tests for COVID-19. In order to overcome this burden, India is reaching out to South Korea,
USA, Germany and China to arrange for more kits in order to increase the current testing
capacity for COVID-19. Although this step might help India to some extent in its current
containment plan, the real need can only be fulfilled by accelerating indigenous COVID-19
diagnostics manufacturing.

Accurate diagnosis of coronavirus infection is symptoms of the infection or has already recovered.
a very crucial tool to help identify and control But a low accuracy from these tests could diminish
the disease. During the ongoing COVID-19 their usefulness as a catch-all screening tool.
pandemic, there is a lot of buzz regarding the possible
errors in diagnoses with both reverse transcription Adding to this challenge, India is facing a bigger
polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests and the burden of not having enough diagnostic kits in
faster antibody-based tests, all over the world. hand. Specifically, there is a shortage of reagents,
consumables and equipment required to carry
RT-PCR testing, which is considered the gold out the diagnostic tests for COVID-19. Expressing
standard for diagnosis of COVID-19, is vital, but it his concerns, Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator,
cannot always identify asymptomatic infections or
infections in people who may have now recovered. Association of Indian Medical
This is where probably antibody tests can help Device Industry (AIMED),
because they look for antibodies even New Delhi says, “Our main
when an individual issue is immediate access of
does not display positive covid serum samples
the to in vitro diagnostic

20 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

(IVD) manufacturers. Without this, no company can cannot be placed at just any facility.
produce a reliable rapid test for COVID-19.” At present, India has developed a capacity to

In order to overcome such issues, India is conduct more than 1,00,000 tests per day but the
reaching out to South Korea, USA, Germany and majority are conducted through imported kits and
China to arrange for more kits in order to increase the machines. A recent episode of questionable testing
current testing capacity for COVID-19. Although this while using Chinese diagnostic kits has reminded
step might help India to some extent in its current the government to put more focus on pushing
containment plan, the real need can only be fulfilled India’s capacity to manufacture testing kits with
by accelerating indigenous COVID-19 diagnostics ruthless efficiency. As a result, the licences of the
manufacturing. Chinese companies Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and
Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics have been cancelled by
“The coronavirus outbreak has taken the country the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation
completely by surprise, exposing the weakness of (CDSCO), which were earlier approved by the Indian
public health systems in coping with such pandemics. Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
While it is difficult to foresee what the next virus threat
would be, the pandemic focused medical equipment, Up till May 15, 45 real-time PCR kits have been
diagnosis kits could give us a future head start in the validated by ICMR, out of which 21 were found to be
battle against any such infectious disease. India needs satisfactory. 10 of these companies are from India.
to collaborate with its world-class IT industry to crack On the other hand, 42 antibody based rapid tests
the code of pandemic causing diseases. Presently, have been validated, out of which 13 were found to
India is more dependent on imported diagnostics, be satisfactory and 10 of these kits are manufactured
however, there is an urgent need for the private sector in India. Thus, a large number of companies are
to shift their focus towards creating cost-effective involved in developing the diagnostic kits but the
medical devices and kits for the country and the rest sheer limitation of the raw materials and resources is
of the developing world”, says Chander Shekhar Sibal, hindering the bulk production and mass testing.
Senior Vice President, Fujifilm India, New Delhi.
On this note, Nitin Sawant, President, IVD India,
For ramping up the current testing capabilities, Trivitron Healthcare, Mumbai says, “Low availability
the government has recently procured COBAS 6800 of test kits remains a cause of great concern to the
testing machine from Swiss firm Roche, and has government and healthcare practitioners. This is
gotten it installed at the National Centre for Disease compounded by our massive populace, given the
Control (NCDC), New Delhi. COBAS 6800 is a quantity that is required in the current scenario.
sophisticated machine enabled with robotics that This lack of availability of test kits is primarily
minimizes the chance of contamination as well as because India does not have adequate indigenous
the risk of infection to the health care workers since manufacturing units of COVID-19 test kits. In light of
it can be operated remotely with limited human the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the
intervention. However, since the machine requires government and the regulatory bodies have risen up
a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it to the occasion with respect to prioritising approvals
for essential items, and simplifying application,
“Our main issue is immediate access of documentation and testing requirements. Review
positive covid serum samples to in vitro of test kits is being done on an expedited basis, with
diagnostic (IVD) manufacturers. Without this, reports of some reviews having been completed in
no company can produce a reliable rapid test less than 36 hours. Processes such as site inspections,
for COVID-19.” which used to be tedious, are being completed within
- RAJIV NATH, a period of one day in many cases, with approvals
Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian being granted within 24 hours of a positive evaluation
Medical Device Industry (AIMED), New Delhi report. Government has started interacting directly
with manufacturers and is also ensuring availability
of raw materials required for these kits. Government
is also giving priority to locally manufactured kits
in tender processes and is closely monitoring the
problems or obstacles faced by manufacturers.”

As a recent development, National Biomedical
Resource Indigenisation Consortium (NBRIC) has
been constituted by the Department of Biotechnology
(DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology,
Government of India as a public private partnership

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVER STORY 21

to drive indigenous innovation focused on developing ANTIBODY BASED RAPID
reagents for diagnostic kits for COVID-19. Based out TESTS APPROVED BY ICMR
of Bengaluru based Centre for Cellular and Molecular
Platforms (C-CAMP), NBRIC has begun mapping S No Company Test
of manufacturers of reagents and consumables for 1 BioMedomics (US)
COVID-19 RT-PCR testing kits. 2 COVID-19 IgM IgG
3 BMT Diagnostics Rapid Test
Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT, New Delhi 4 (Israel)
reveals more about this initiative and says, “To 5 COVID-19 IgG/IgM
meet our biotech and biomedical needs, the country 6 SIDAK Life Care Rapid Test Kit Rafael
needs to be self-reliant for product manufacturing 7 (Haryana) Diagnostic
and also the components, reagents, resources across Voxtur Bio (Gujarat)
the product development chain. N-BRIC brings 8 One Step COVID-19
together academia, industry, startups and MSME to 9 Vanguard IgM/IgG Antibody
serve not just the country but the world. To meet Diagnostics (New Delhi)
the COVID-19 challenges, this is a good start and we 10 New Coronavirus
hope to enlarge this to include all required resources, 11 HLL Lifecare (COVID-19) IgG/IgM
platforms and facilities.” (Thiruvananthapuram) Rapid Test
12 CPC Diagnostics
DBT has also launched the DBT-AMTZ (Chennai) COVID-19 IgM/IgG
COMManD (COVID Medtech Manufacturing 13 Antibody Detection
Development) strategy to address the shortage of Lab-Care Diagnostics Card Test
critical materials in India and move progressively (Mumbai)
towards a stage of self-sufficiency. A major outcome Makesure COVID-19
of COMManD strategy is to produce 40,000 RT-PCR Alpine Biomedicals Rapid Test
kits per day in the coming days. (Ambala)
YHLO SARS-
In addition, DBT is also providing financial NuLifecare (New Delhi) CoV-2 IgM and
support to startups in the diagnostics space such IgG detection
as Denovo Biolabs (Bengaluru), Shine Biotech SD Biosensor (South kit (additional
(Faridabad), Prantae (Odisha), Promea Therapeutics Korea) equipment required)
(Hyderabad), Achira (Bengaluru) for ensuring that
there is no shortage of indigenous diagnostic kits in Immunoscience India ACCUCARE IgM/IgG
the near future. (Pune) Lateral Flow Assay
kit
“The government will need to invest significantly Medsource Ozone
in strengthening the capabilities of institutions like Biomedicals (Faridabad) One Step Corona
the National Institute of Epidemiology in Chennai, Virus ( COVID-19 )
the National Centre for Disease Control in New IgM/IgG Antibody
Delhi, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Test
Bengaluru, and the National Institute of Virology
in Pune, to give a fresh impetus to research into Abchek COVID-19
infectious diseases. The current crisis has reiterated IgM/IgG Antibody
the fact that healthcare and diagnostics is the biggest Rapid Test
opportunity for a country like India. The government
needs to seize this moment to redirect its focus on Standard Q Covid
life science, diagnostics and healthcare, and work -19 IgM/IgG Duo
together with the private sector to make India test – One Step
not only the ‘Pharmacy to the World’ but also the Rapid Antibody test
‘Laboratory to the World’”, shares Arindam Haldar,
CEO, SRL Diagnostics, Gurugram. Immuno Quick Rapid
Test for Detection of
To address this gap further, NITI Aayog, a policy COVID-19 IgM/IgG
think tank of the Government of India, has launched Antibodies
a new initiative called Project CARD- Consortium
for Affordable & Rapid Diagnostics. It is a unique COVID 19 IgM/IgG
public-private-academic partnership enabled by the Rapid Test Kit
government where a platform is provided by the
NITI Aayog in close collaboration with the DBT to Source: ICMR
synchronize all stakeholders for a common, urgent goal
towards accelerating COVID-19 diagnostics in India.
The first goal of project CARD will be to churn

out at least 10 million rapid antibody tests for
COVID-19 by July 2020. The final aim is to make
India a diagnostic export powerhouse by the end of
2020. It also seeks to bolster India’s capabilities in
manufacturing reagents, probes, primers, and other
components needed for diagnostics.

22 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“The need of the hour is to challenge the limits
of conventional diagnostics and medicine with
path-breaking techniques and procedures that
allow the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19
with greater speed and precision”.
- AISHWARYA VASUDEVAN,
Group Chief Operating Officer, Neuberg
Diagnostics, Bengaluru

“We must augment indigenous manufacturers to Meanwhile, multinational companies such as
support our national demand for kits. Currently, Roche and Abbott are contributing to this fight
to meet this demand we may need to utilize kits against COVID-19 by developing antibody based test
from other countries but the larger goal is to kits and supplying it to the Indian market through
become self-reliant”. their subsidiaries here. Roche Diagnostics India has
- DR TASLIMARIF SAIYED, announced that it is readying to bring their serology-
CEO & Director, C-CAMP, Bengaluru based SARS-CoV-2 test - Elecsys Anti-SARS-
CoV-2, having received the import license issued
“In light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 by the Central Drug Standard Control Organization
pandemic, the government and the regulatory (CDSCO). “India is adopting a testing strategy that
bodies have risen up to the occasion with respect has been at par with international standards. From
to prioritising approvals for essential items, and bringing the globally used tests to the country in
simplifying application, documentation and record time to establishing the disease control
testing requirements.” measures by creating COVID-19 diagnostic hubs
- NITIN SAWANT, and enabling different types of testing at various
President, IVD India, stages of disease spread, the government has been
Trivitron Healthcare, Mumbai collaborating with various sections of the healthcare
system to manage the situation”, shares Dr Shravan
Subramanyam, Managing Director - Roche
Diagnostics India, Mumbai.

Similarly, Abbott has come up with a laboratory-
based serology blood test for the detection of the
antibody IgG, and it will be available in India soon.
The company will also be expanding its laboratory
antibody testing to the detection of the antibody,
IgM, in the near future.

“Even if we manage to get enough test kits, it
is not enough. We need to ensure that we have
enough lab hardware and technicians to analyze the
samples. We also require logistics for moving goods,

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVER STORY 23

“India needs to collaborate with its world-class IT
industry to crack the code of pandemic causing
diseases. There is an urgent need for the private
sector to shift their focus towards creating cost-
effective medical devices and kits for the country

and the rest of the developing world.”
- CHANDER SHEKHAR SIBAL,

Senior Vice President, Fujifilm India, New Delhi

and provide services and information technology “Even if we manage to get enough test kits, it is not
to keep both the supplies and data moving. If proof enough. We need to ensure that we have enough
of community transmission comes to light, we will lab hardware and technicians to analyze the
have to take drastic measures to contain its spread,
which is not only going to be difficult in a country samples. We also require logistics for moving goods,
as densely populated as ours but will also adversely and provide services and information technology to
affect our economy”, points out Savitha Kuttan, CEO,
Omnicuris, Bengaluru. keep both the supplies and data moving.”
- SAVITHA KUTTAN,
Innovative diagnostic alternatives
CEO, Omnicuris, Bengaluru
While India waits for more constructive steps to
materialize in order to increase the testing capacity, “N-BRIC brings together academia, industry,
the academia and industry is working on developing startups and MSME to serve not just the country
innovative alternatives. For instance, New Delhi but the world. To meet the COVID-19 challenges,
based Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
(CSIR)- Institute of Genomics and Integrative this is a good start and we hope to enlarge this
Biology (CSIR-IGIB) has invented FNCAS9 Editor to include all required resources, platforms and
Linked Uniform Detection Assay (FELUDA) for
rapid diagnosis of COVID-19. Its main advantages facilities.”
are its affordability, relative ease of use and non- - DR RENU SWARUP,
dependency on expensive quantitative PCR machines. Secretary, DBT, New Delhi

Dr Anurag Agrawal, Director, IGIB, New Delhi
highlights, “A completely indigenous scientific
invention, FELUDA for COVID-19 has been designed
for mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 situation and
cater to mass testing. The technology was conceived
and developed under sickle cell mission and utilizes
an indigenously developed cutting edge CRISPR
Cas9 technology to specifically recognize COVID-19
sequence in a sample. A combination of CRISPR

24 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“A completely indigenous scientific invention, “The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for
FELUDA for COVID-19 has been designed for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV will
mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 situation play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of
and cater to mass testing. The technology was population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
conceived and developed under sickle cell infection. The test is named as COVID KAVACH
mission and utilizes an indigenously developed ELISA which is a perfect example of Make in India
cutting edge CRISPR Cas9 technology to in record time”.
specifically recognize COVID-19 sequence in a - DR HARSH VARDHAN,
sample.” Minister for Science & Technology, Minister for
- DR ANURAG AGRAWAL, Health and Family Welfare and Minister for Earth
Director, IGIB, New Delhi Sciences, Government of India

biology and paper-strip chemistry leads to a visible infection. Zydus has proactively taken up the
signal readout on a paper strip that can be rapidly challenge to expedite the approvals and commercial
assessed for establishing the presence of viral production of the ELISA test kits so that they can
infection in a sample.” be made available for use at the earliest. The test is
named as COVID KAVACH ELISA which is a perfect
To take thing ahead, IGIB has signed a technology example of Make in India in record time”, says Dr
transfer agreement with Mumbai based TATA Sons Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Science & Technology,
for scaling up so that it can be deployed for COVID-19 Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Minister
testing on ground as early as possible. for Earth Sciences, Government of India.

Likewise, researchers at the Indian Institute of Although traditionally used for HIV testing, ELISA
Technology (IIT) Delhi’s Kusuma School of Biological test is now gradually entering the diagnostic market
Sciences (KSBS) have developed an innovative for COVID-19. Bengaluru based Syngene International
detection assay for COVID-19 which has now been and Mumbai based Transasia Bio-Medicals have also
approved by ICMR. It is a probe-free assay that will developed COVID-19 antibody ELISA test kits in order
be useful for specific and affordable high throughput to ease of India’s burden for mass testing.
testing. This assay can be easily scaled up as it does
not require fluorescent probes. The team is targeting Hyderabad based Indian Institute of Chemical
large scale deployment of the kit at affordable prices Technology (IICT) has taken a step ahead by taking
with suitable industrial partners as soon as possible. up the challenge of making an affordable RT-
PCR kit indigenously. The institute intends to use
Focusing on another technology, National recombinant technology for the production of several
Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has developed enzymes used in the kit and optimize the reagent
and validated the indigenous IgG ELISA test called conditions to match the regulatory requirements.
COVID KAVACH ELISA for antibody detection for The partnering company US and Hyderabad based
COVID-19. For the enzyme-linked immunosorbent Genomix Biotech will optimize the kit for COVID-19
assay (ELISA) test, there is minimal bio-safety and diagnosis by adding the Taqman probes.
bio-security requirements as compared to the real-
time RT-PCR test. Ahmedabad based company Zydus On the startup front, Noida based DNA Xperts
Cadila has partnered with NIV to this technology has developed a fast, RT- PCR kit for Cov-2 RNA
ahead for production. detection. It uses special probes for enhanced
sensitivity and specificity and takes less than an hour
“The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for to test. A second kit that they have proposed does
antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV will away with RNA extraction by directly putting swab
play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of samples in buffer. The startup has been picked up
population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVER STORY 25

“India is adopting a testing strategy “The current crisis has reiterated the
that has been at par with international fact that healthcare and diagnostics
standards. From bringing the globally
used tests to the country in record time to is the biggest opportunity for a
establishing the disease control measures country like India. The government
by creating COVID-19 diagnostic hubs
and enabling different types of testing needs to seize this moment to
at various stages of disease spread, the redirect its focus on life science,
government has been collaborating with diagnostics and healthcare, and work
various sections of the healthcare system to together with the private sector to
make India not only the ‘Pharmacy to
manage the situation”. the World’ but also the ‘Laboratory to
- DR SHRAVAN SUBRAMANYAM,
MD - Roche Diagnostics India, Mumbai the World’”.
- ARINDAM HALDAR,
CEO, SRL Diagnostics, Gurugram

RT-PCR KITS APPROVED BY ICMR Test
RealStar SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kit 1.0
S No Company Patho Detect
1 Altona Diagnostics (Germany) Allplex 2019-nCoV assay
2 Mylab Discovery Solutions (Pune) TRUPCR SARS-CoV-2RT-qPCR kit version 2
3 Seegene (South Korea) Quantiplus CoV detection kit ver 2.0
4 KILPEST BLACKBIO (Bhopal/ Spain) Real Time Fluorescent RT-PCR Kit for detecting 2019-nCoV
5 Huwel Lifesciences (Hyderabad) TaqMan 2019-nCoV Control Kit v1
6 BGI (China) Helini Coronavirus [COVID 19] Real-time PCR kit
7 ABI Applied bio systems (US) LyteStar 2019 nCoV RT-PCR kit 1.0
8 Helini Biomolecules (Chennai) Gene Finder COVID-19
9 ADT Biotech Sdn Bhd (Malaysia) Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2
10 OSANG Health Care (South Korea) BIO COVID ID/ COVID-19 qualitative PCR detection kit v. 2
11 Cepheid (US) Meril COVID-19 One-step RT-PCR Kit
12 Biogenomics (Thane) NeoPlex COVID-19 detection kit
13 Meril Diagnostics (Mumbai) Covid 19 Probe-free Real Time PCR Diagnostic Kit
14 Gene Matrix (South Korea) SARAGENE Corona Virus (2019 NCV) Test kit
15 IIT Delhi nCoV Real-Time Detection kit
16 Cosara Diagnostics (Gujarat) Accucare COVID One step RT-pCR kit
17 SD Biosensor (South Korea) Q-line Molecular Coronavirus
18 Lab-Care Diagnostics (Mumbai) DiAGSure nCov-19 Detection assay
19 POCT services (New Delhi) COVID-19 RT-PCR kit
20 GCC Biotech (West Bengal)
21 Medsource Ozone Biomedicals (Faridabad) Source: ICMR

26 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

VALIDATION CENTRES FOR DIAGNOSTICS FOR COVID-19

S No Company Test
1 ICMR – National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
2 CSIR – Centre of Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
3 ICMR- National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), Dwarka , Delhi RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
4 ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
5 ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), field unit in Bengaluru RT-PCR, VTM
6 ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, Odisha RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
7 ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) , RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
Mumbai
8 Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
Chandigarh
9 King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
10 ICMR-Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Science RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits, VTM
(RMRIMS), Patna
11 ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV) field unit in Alapuzha, Kerala RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits
12 ICMR - National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune RT-PCR
13 ICMR-National Institute of Pathology (NIP), New Delhi RT-PCR
14 ICMR – National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), RT-PCR, RNA Extraction Kits
Kolkata
Source: ICMR
VTM- Viral Transport Medium

by C-CAMP’s COVID-19 Innovations Deployment the limits of conventional diagnostics and medicine
Accelerator (CIDA) programme to help fast-track this with path-breaking techniques and procedures that
promising innovation. allow the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 with
greater speed and precision”, elaborates Aishwarya
“India will need a very large number of RT- Vasudevan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Neuberg
PCR kits going forward followed up with reliable Diagnostics, Bengaluru.
serological tests for point of care screening
and diagnostics. We must augment indigenous Similarly, many more diagnostic platforms
manufacturers to support our national demand for are being explored to help India reach a stage of
kits. For these kits, manufacturers need large scale self-reliance. Fluorescence and electrochemistry
reagents, which are traditionally imported. Currently, mediated rapid detection of SARS-Cov-2 nucleic
to meet this demand we may need to utilize kits from acid from Bennett University, Greater Noida;
other countries but the larger goal is to become self- Portable microfluidics embedded on chip rRT-PCR
reliant”, says Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO & Director, and microelectrode array coupled point-of care
C-CAMP, Bengaluru. optoelectronic device for large scale screening by
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi;
Ahmedabad based Neuberg Supratech Reference Development and evaluation of aptamer based lateral
Laboratory is another startup working towards flow assay kit for detection of SARS-CoV2 by IIT-
countering this problem by developing cost effective Delhi and CRISPR based diagnosis of COVID-19
post viral extraction procedures. For this purpose, using paper microfluidics by IIT-Guwahati, are a few
Neuberg has inked a Memorandum of Understanding upcoming diagnostic alternatives.
(MoU) with Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre
(GBRC), a Gujarat Government arm. On a positive note, the COVID-19 pandemic has
made India realise the importance of biomedical
“Currently the spend is around Rs 3,500 for resources for the healthcare system and research
consumables for RT-PCR testing. Neuberg aims to community. It is in turn pushing India to optimise
bring the cost down to below Rs 1,000. For this, we the latent capabilities it possesses across the
will optimise the RT-PCR testing consumables and public and private sector to promote indigenous
procedures that are presently being used. This will development and manufacturing.
also increase the testing capacity by 2 -3 times and
even the turnaround times will be bought down to Dr Manbeena Chawla
within two hours. The need of the hour is to challenge [email protected]

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVER STORY 27

COVID-19 testing continues
to be a pressing issue

One of the key constraints for Indian «
researchers and manufacturers to develop
quickly testing kits in the country is Dr P. Siva Kumar,
dependency for raw materials such as Medical Technology
enzymes, antigens, antibodies etc., required Advisor, ESI MedTek
for research and manufacturing. All this is Solutions, New Delhi
leading to delays in development of high
quality and affordable testing solutions. On the other hand, antibody tests are used
Government should provide necessary to detect the evidence of the human body’s
support to develop the “ancillary” support for immune response to an infection, in this case,
the researchers and manufacturers so that the COVID-19 virus. As more people contract
India can become self-reliant. and then recover from the disease, these tests can
help assess the extent of the viral spread among
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has populations and help manage social restrictions
recommended that each country assess its through providing historic information about viral
risk and rapidly implement the necessary exposure, as well as diagnostic evidence.
measures and prepare for a testing and clinical
care surge to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Although RT-PCR tests have become
Diagnostic testing will enable mitigation of available, the current huge demand puts them
COVID-19 virus spread and will facilitate achieving in short supply across the globe. It is therefore
a level of preparedness and responsiveness to important for public health authorities to consider
effectively identify, manage and care for new cases prioritizing testing for certain groups, such as
of COVID-19. The need for universal and massive healthcare workers, to suppress the spread of the
testing across the population has, therefore, led to virus while efforts are made to address the supply
a race for technology innovations for COVID-19 chain challenges.
diagnosis.
While serological antibody tests have exhibited
However, there have been several challenges huge potential in tracing the virus, these are
with respect to the quality of certain types of tests still being developed and are limited in their
and supply chain issues. Hopefully, as the days availability. As companies continue to develop
pass by, the situation could improve and stabilize. immunoassays for COVID-19, further research will
be required to refine the methods used. Multiple
Given that the virus is new, and the tests tests need to be standardized on a global scale to
are still very new to the scene, it is important provide the best information.
to note that the true clinical sensitivity is
unknown. Therefore, the accuracy of results During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
from the technologies that are available may there has been a lot of buzz regarding the possible
not be of the desired levels. It is essential that errors in diagnoses with both RT-PCR tests and
aggressive research work is undertaken to enable the faster antibody-based tests all over the world.
the development of more accurate and reliable To understand how serious these errors might be
technologies. during a pandemic, we need to understand the
nature of different types of errors.
As most of us are aware, by now, RT-PCR
technology detects the virus while it is circulating When a new test is rapidly created and
in the body and enables diagnosis of the disease deployed, as in the case of the current coronavirus,
for appropriate treatment. RT-PCR test aids the its accuracy cannot be exactly predicted
identification of individuals who are infected, the beforehand. A test developed under controlled lab
management of patients, and implementation of
mitigation strategies for preventing the spread of
the disease.

28 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

India is to a large extent relying on people Currently, people are tested only if they develop
power - thousands of healthcare workers symptoms. It is critical to expand the testing
are fanning out across the country to trace rapidly, otherwise infections will be missed.
and quarantine people who might have
had contact with those with COVID-19. The There have been clear guidelines issued by the
disease has generally been mild among most authorities on the strategies for testing. Like many
people affected in the subcontinent and it other nations, India does not have enough kits to
is possible that herd immunity may develop test most of its population for the new coronavirus.
through gradual exposure among healthy While continuous efforts are being put in place
individuals. While lockdown measures are to procure high quality tests, there has also been
lifted in a controlled manner, government encouragement by the government to develop the
public health agencies need to continue products indigenously so that the dependency on
to promote hygiene measures. Physical the imports could be minimized.
distancing will need to be continued. India
cannot ignore the need for testing which In this direction, few companies have been
should be an essential part of India’s working and have been successful in launching
COVID-19 control strategy. The eventual their products and are being used. However, still
objective thus is to eliminate the disease. a significant percent of the kits is being imported
and the manufacturing countries have not been
conditions might behave in a different manner able to allocate indented quantities by India as the
when applied in the real world and this might demand globally is high.
enhance the likelihood of errors. Different values
of the sensitivity of RT-PCR tests to COVID-19 As regards the rapid antibody kits, as stated
have been reported in different parts of the globe. earlier, these are early days of the virus and disease
and accurate and sensitive kits would be available
Antibody tests could help to find people who over a period of time as the research is continuing
can be presumed to be immune, although studies in this direction. Sooner rather than later any
are still underway to confirm this is true of the country, especially a populous country like India,
new coronavirus as well. Enough information on would have to lean towards rapid diagnostic tests
the accuracy of antibody tests is still not available. to achieve the desired objectives.
Limited data from other countries suggests that
such tests might have fewer false negative results Meanwhile, COVID-19 test kits based
than RT-PCR tests but more false positives. on the technologies like the enzyme-
linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and
India is to a large extent relying on people chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA)
power - thousands of healthcare workers are are being made available by some reputed
fanning out across the country to trace and multinational companies. These technologies use
quarantine people who might have had contact high throughput analysers to meet the demand in
with those with COVID-19. The disease has terms of turnaround time, accuracy, and volumes
generally been mild among most people affected for testing. A key aspect while considering these
in the subcontinent and it is possible that herd technologies is the desired platforms in terms of
immunity may develop through gradual exposure analysers are already installed across the country
among healthy individuals. While lockdown and robust support mechanisms exist. Till such
measures are lifted in a controlled manner, time that rapid card tests are stabilized, it would
government public health agencies need to be highly desirable to consider ELISA and CLIA
continue to promote hygiene measures. Physical Technologies to meet the volume demands.
distancing will need to be continued.
One of the key constraints for Indian researchers
Having said that, India cannot ignore the and manufacturers to develop quickly testing kits
need for testing which should be an essential in the country is dependency for raw materials such
part of India’s COVID-19 control strategy. The as enzymes, antigens, antibodies etc., required for
eventual objective thus is to eliminate the disease. research and manufacturing. In some cases, it is
also necessary to import good quality plasticware
required to manufacture the kits.

All this is leading to delays in development
of high quality and affordable testing solutions.
It is important that government should provide
necessary support to develop the “ancillary”
support for the researchers and manufacturers so
that India can become self-reliant.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 29

Is PPE shortage driving adoption
of robots for assistance?

Anticipating the threat on healthcare workers in contracting corona infection, hospitals in India have started
turning to robots for COVID-19 management. Robots help lessen exposure of healthcare workers to the
virus thereby reducing danger of infection. They not only help in contactless screening but are also capable
of other operations.

Keeping safe distance between Arvind Mills, 3M, Aditya
individuals is hence one of Birla, Alok Industries,
the best tools considered to JCT Phagwara, Gokaldas
prevent spreading of SARS-CoV-19.
However, certain professional duties Exports, Indian Technical
present challenges to follow Textile Association
social distancing and falling in (ITTA) with others,
this category are majorly the has led to the
healthcare workers, who manufacturing of an
are responsible for testing, average of current
diagnosis and treatment. three lakh PPE kits
A slight mishandling of per day.
the situation can lead to a The country
health center becoming a had a buffer stock
hotspot of the disease. of around 16 lakh

The Directorate General PPEs till first week of
of Health Services, Ministry of May and it is estimated
Health and Family Welfare has that requirement of
issued guidelines for rational two crore PPEs would
use of Personal Protective be met by June end.
Equipment (PPEs) such as PPE kits designed and
gloves, coveralls/gowns, head- produced by Indian
cover, goggles, N-95 masks, Navy have recently been
shoe covers, face shields, triple approved by the Defence
layer medical masks and body Research and Development
bags, to safeguard healthcare
workers providing assistance in Organisation (DRDO)
various settings of hospitals. - the organization
Additionally, PPEs are also tasked with testing and
deployed by health workers certification of PPEs in
in community settings as
field staff, staff at quarantine association South India
facilities and home quarantine.
“Not every manufacturer has
In a span of two months, India has the right specification and
emerged as the second largest manufacturer
of PPEs in the world. While India had no local manufacturers are mixing and
manufacturing capacity of PPEs in February, matching items to cut costs.
and had experienced shortage for the same, Also, delivery and demand
a focused push for the ramp up production remains a concern where
was ensured for self-sufficiency. Though India
managed to import around 52,000 PPE kits in delivery timelines are high and
February, the joint effort of Ministry of Textiles constant tracking and follow-
and India’s top textile manufacturers such as ups are required.”
- Abhilash Nair,
Project Manager and Volunteer, Covidindia.org

30 COVID-19 BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“Countries like the United
States, China, and Italy

have already successfully
implemented AI-based

robots at health facilities to
minimize human intervention
in treating COVID-19 patients,

and India can replicate the
same to provide some relief

to its frontline healthcare
workers in their battle against

coronavirus.”
- Rajeev Karwal,

Founder Chairman, Milagrow, Gurugram

Textiles Research Association (SITRA) in of healthcare workers to the virus thereby
Coimbatore, Heavy Vehicle Factory in Chennai, reducing danger of infection. They not only
Small Arms Factory in Kanpur, Ordnance help in contactless screening but are also
Factory in Kanpur, Ordnance Factory in capable of other operations.
Muradnagar, Ordnance Factory in Ambernath,
and Metal & Steel Factory in Ishapore, For instance, All India Institute of
West Bengal). India’s 50 per cent PPE kits Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi has
are produced in Karnataka. Delhi, Gujrat, deployed robots to monitor and interact
Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu with patients and for floor disinfection.
and West Bengal are other states involved in These have been manufactured by Gurugram
PPE manufacturing. based robotics company Milagrow. The
Milagrowi Map 9 is a floor disinfecting
However, Abhilash Nair, Project Manager robot that can navigate and sanitize the
and Volunteer for Covidindia.org expresses floors without any human intervention. It
his concerns on the current situation and can destroy COVID spores on floor surfaces
says, “Not every manufacturer has the right using sodium hypochlorite solution. The
specification and manufacturers are mixing robot moves around autonomously without
and matching items to cut costs. Also, delivery falling, avoiding obstruction while planning
and demand remains a concern where delivery its own path, guided by Light Detection and
timelines are high and constant tracking and Ranging (LIDAR) and advanced Simultaneous
follow-ups are required.” Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology.

Further, it has been observed that Sharing his insights, Rajeev Karwal,
authorized testing labs by the Ministry of Founder Chairman, Milagrow, Gurugram says,
Textiles issue test reports and not Unique Code “Milagrow Robots is very happy to support
Certificates (UCC). It is the responsibility of AIIMS in its effort to fight the corona pandemic
manufacturers to declare via an affidavit that and will work closely to develop more products
they are legitimate textile manufacturers which
has led to complaints of fake certificates.

Healthcare workers have also reported
their discomfort in using PPE kits. Though
necessary, they feel that wearing a PPE is
the hardest part of their duty. Also the kit is
required to be replaced with a new one with
every visit to the patient ward, which may
increase chances of infection for the healthcare
workers.

Anticipating the threat, hospitals in India
have started turning to robots for COVID-19
management. Robots help lessen exposure

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 31

based on the feedback of actual conditions. “The high infection
Countries like the United States, China, and rates among healthcare
Italy have already successfully implemented workers across the world
AI-based robots at health facilities to minimize have hampered efforts
human intervention in treating COVID-19
patients, and India can replicate the same to to tackle COVID-19
provide some relief to its frontline healthcare pandemic that prompted
workers in their battle against coronavirus. As
the outbreak continues to rise alarmingly, our us to consider robotic
state-of-the-art robots will help check the virus screening.”
spread and protect the doctors, nurses and - Dr Manish Mattoo,
caregivers from getting infected.”
Zonal Director, Fortis Hospitals, Bengaluru
In a bid to protect the healthcare workers
and intensify the screening process, Fortis among healthcare workers across the world
Hospital in Bengaluru has introduced Mitra have hampered efforts to tackle COVID-19
robot for COVID-19 screening developed by pandemic that prompted us to consider robotic
Bengaluru based robotics startup Invento. screening. We are screening the patients,
The robot interacts using facial and speech their attendees, and our staff at the hospital
recognition contextual help and autonomous entrance to ensure no one with the symptoms
navigation and screens the visitor for of COVID-19 is entering the hospital premises.
symptoms for COVID-19 i.e fever, cough, and With our OPDs being resumed, the chances of
cold. transmitting the virus can also increase. Thus,
this process will help us minimize the chances
Commenting on this initiative, Dr Manish of virus transmission through human contact.”
Mattoo, Zonal Director, Fortis Hospitals,
Bengaluru, says, “The high infection rates Stanley Medical College Hospital, Chennai
has started using robotic nurses to deliver
food and medicine to COVID-19 patients.
Additionally, Patan-Dharpur medical college
of North Gujarat has deployed locally made
‘Dhar-bot’ robots.

Hyderabad based pharma company, Reevax
has launched an automated disinfecting robot
that can kill coronavirus using UV rays to
help clean medical consumables such as beds,
masks and rooms by destroying viral DNA
and RNA. The robot named as UVROVA is
especially designed for ICU beds and can be
operated using an app. The robot is being
currently used by Star, Virinchi and Medicare
hospitals. Also in line, Jaipur based company
Club First has built a robot for temperature
screening and to identify if a person is wearing
a mask or not.

Robot technology is expected to grow
in India due to less number of healthcare
professionals, increasing infection rate and
need for contact less business and PPE
related supply issues. Further, with increasing
relaxations given in the lockdown to stabilize
the economy, enforcing social distancing would
be a need as well as a challenge. PPE related
issues exist, however maintaining safety of
healthcare workers remains the primary reason
for deploying robots by hospitals.

Swati Shrivastava

32 COVID-19 BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

IF WISHES
WERE

VACCINES…

The long road till commercial availability compelling
sustained funding at unprecedented levels.
Combined with the $ 2 billion outlay expected from
GAVI / CEPI and various government institutions
and alliances across the globe, the total economic
interest invested in this research would be at a
never-before-seen or imagined level.

One of the most obvious positive fallout of this research. Moderna of USA is leading the pack with
COVID-19 pandemic has been the tremendous Sanofi and Pfizer not far behind. As many as 5 vaccines
increase in focus on, and funding for, are in advanced trials in China. The most interesting
vaccines. When COVID-19 first broke out in China economic feature of this global feverish enthusiasm
in December 2019, the number of influenza vaccines has been that quite a lot of funding for this vaccine
under research and discovery were about 15. At that research has emanated from private sources as well.
level, this was still higher by several times compared Combined with the $ 2 billion outlay expected from
to two decades ago. GAVI / CEPI and various government institutions and
alliances across the globe, the total economic interest
Vaccines have traditionally always lagged behind invested in this research would be at a never-before-
drug discovery as a favoured area of research for the seen or imagined level.
pharma and biotech sector as a whole. The reasons
are many, starting from the time and investment All premier companies of the pharma world
needed for the research and discovery. Before the are competing with not only each other but also
COVID-19 pandemic and current feverish pace prominent universities and research organisations
of the race to find the vaccine against it, the 2015 to win the race with an effective vaccine against
ZIKA vaccine held the record for the shortest time the dreaded Novel Coronavirus. As of now, either
taken from initiation to completion of trials – seven Moderna or Sanofi (France) look all set to pip
months. Add to this the cumbersome process of everyone at the post with their vaccine, and already
production which would take years to produce in discussions with countries for distribution of
sufficient doses for the affected populations: the ZIKA the future production. Serum Institute of India has
pandemic had already fizzled out before large scale collaborated with the Oxford University to start
commercial production could be achieved. producing their vaccine candidate soon after the
success of animal trials, to achieve production of
This leads to the most critical economic aspect sufficient quantity of the vaccine in the shortest of
of the process - the uncertainty surrounding the time upon final approval.
final take-up of the vaccine by populations. It
is not surprising therefore that the funding for With this much amount of money floating about
them has grown primarily through sources from around vaccines, controversy cannot be far behind
government institutions like BARDA and charity either. There are virologists and medical doctors
outfits like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, crying foul over whether the current focus on
via the critical role executed by organisations like vaccines is a result of a force majeure event or the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
(CEPI) and GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunisation), the vaccine alliance.

The growth in the interest of the vaccine research
explodedas the COVID-19 pandemic spread, with over
100 vaccine candidates currently at various stages of

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 33

source of the same. There is no evidence whatsoever with quick repurposing of their proprietary drugs
however, to back up such conjectures. Further, holding any relation or promise for helping recovery
the shape-shifting nature of this new monster process if not cure. All universities and research
called Novel Coronavirus has gone beyond any sort laboratories are after the same, trying to find a cure
of human capacity to control it, posing the core quickly. However, if one looks at ‘investor interest’
problem in arriving at the cure and the vaccine both. and funding patterns, a different picture emerges.
Fortunately, the thinking about shortening vaccine Compared to the funds in hot pursuit of the vaccine,
discovery process via RNA-based technologies and the investor interest in finding an adequate cure for
‘plug and play’ platforms developed which will work COVID-19 can be described as warm at best.
for any, or a wide number of viruses, started way back
in 2017 itself. Encouraged by National Institute of After 325,000 deaths (and counting), and millions
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the of people already infected, the pandemic is nowhere
27 institutes and centers that make up the National near tapering out. World Health Organisation
Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United (WHO) is now issuing warnings that it may be years
States Department of Health and Human Services, before we are rid of the threat from this particular
Moderna was one of the laboratories doing valuable virus. Coming months are going to be tough, with
research, leading to bringing out their vaccine second wave already apparent in Asia. While this is
solution to the stage of human trials in a record a terrible vision for the wellness of the mankind as a
time. In May, Moderna struck a 10-year strategic whole, it may still be a contributing factor to sustain
collaboration with Lonza Group that over time the funding interest in COVID-19 vaccine to the
will allow the company to make up to 1 billion 50 ultimate goal of global availability of the same. As
mcg doses by the end of 2021. In an online summit much as 70 per cent of the cost of vaccines comprise
organised by the EU attended by over 40 countries of the research and development costs, remaining
and donors, more than $8 billion has been pledged to 30 per cent being the production and distribution
help develop a coronavirus vaccine and fund research costs. Many vaccines are therefore developed
into the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. and kept mainly in the form of a reserve vaccine
stockpile for future outbreaks if any rather than
The researchers’ interest in finding a cure for going into commercial production cycle. A raging
COVID-19 is equally high, as that in finding a vaccine. pandemic that is showing no signs of waning any
Most pharma industry players – whether small or big time soon, is perhaps the only perfect time to ensure
- are tweaking their knowledge and experimenting compliance by the world’s population to take up the
immunisations in a very large scale, which answer the
commercial compulsions of the vaccine production.
Astra Zeneca has been handed $ 1 billion-plus by
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development
Authority (BARDA),a U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the
procurement and development of countermeasures,
to race through phase III and ramp up deliveries of
the pandemic vaccine well before fall.

The cure will not lag far behind in the race,
though. The current efforts by approving authorities
like US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
fast-track approvals will go a long way in relieving the
time and pain in the process of finding the much-
needed cure for COVID-19. Glenmark’s Ramdesivir
was approved by USFDA in record time and has been
accepted as a standard of practice for encouraging
faster recovery of COVID patients.

Let us hope that the spirit of urgency will expedite
the process as all stops are pulled out, and we find the
cure for COVID-19 at the earliest as also achieving
a successful vaccine for preventing further waves of
infections.

Mansee Kurlekar
[email protected]

34 COVID-19 BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

ENHANCING DIGITAL
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT

Patients essentially prefer digital appointment scheduling, online bill payments, patient-payer interaction
and patient-reported outcome. Hospitals interested to expand nationally or cater to international markets
and maintain differential competitive offerings are inclined to invest heavily on digitalization for patient
convenience and reach. Digitalization of ‘Hospital to Patient’ touch point has now become an integrated
component of hospitals and government healthcare initiatives. This is further being explored during the
ongoing COVID-19 situation.

The healthcare sector has experienced patients with self-assessment of the disease based on
life changing technological advances in evaluation parameters, booking appointments and
medical science and with this a new wave of educational materials from Directorate of Health.
digitalization is approaching towards healthcare Similar initiative has been taken by the government
delivery. Healthcare is moving towards a predictive, of Kerala for COVID-19 assessment with the app GoK-
preventive, participatory and personalized pathway. Direct with the help of QKopy.
Well informed, educated and involved patients not
only experience better treatment satisfaction but Apollo Hospital has developed an app and a web
also have improved compliance to therapy thereby portal for initial screening of the disease. This is an
reducing treatment delays. Patient support hence is AI powered bot under the name ‘Project Kavach’ and
emerging towards a proactive and holistic care model is available in six different languages. Wockhardt
from the earlier reactive approach. Hospital has also collaborated with a healthcare
startup, Easocare, to design a tool to screen COVID-19.
For a health institution, digitalization of patient
engagement can have three major touch points: These digital capabilities to engage patients today
Hospital to Patient, Clinician to Patient and Patient are the result of commencements done earlier which
self-generated data. Patients visiting the hospital are began with online registration system (ORS) launched
either health conscious with or without a chronic under the Digital India initiative which presently
illness or non-health conscious with or without a links more than 200 hospitals across the country
chronic illness. Though it is comparatively easier for registration and appointment system based on
to engage health conscious patients, it is important Aadhaar number. A new patient gets a Unique Health
to engage patients with chronic conditions under Identification (UHID) which can be used to book
denial of their health issues as such patients consume appointments in listed hospitals like All India Institute
maximum healthcare budget. of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Further, high-income patient groups demonstrate Also, the Union Ministry of Health and Family
a demand for convenient and modern healthcare Welfare is currently developing an app ‘My Health
services. Patients essentially prefer digital
appointment scheduling, online bill payments, patient- AAROGYA SETU APP
payer interaction and patient-reported outcome.
Hospitals interested to expand nationally or cater Aarogya Setu is a mobile application developed by
to international markets and maintain differential the Government of India to connect essential health
competitive offerings are inclined to invest heavily on services with the people of India in a combined
digitalization for patient convenience and reach. fight against COVID-19. The App is aimed at
augmenting the initiatives of the Government of
Digitalization of ‘Hospital to Patient’ touch point India, particularly the Department of Health, in
has now become an integrated component of hospitals proactively reaching out to and informing the users
and government healthcare initiatives. This is of the app regarding risks, best practices and
further being explored during the ongoing COVID-19 relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of
situation. In March 2020, Goa became the first state COVID-19. Available in 11 different languages this
in India to launch a self-evaluation assessment to App has already been installed by over 100 million
identify at-risk patients for COVID-19 in partnership people by May 15, 2020.
with US based Innovaccer Inc. The app helps

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 35

Records’ with the help of Centre for Development FEW APPS DEVELOPED
of Advanced Computing under the Ministry for TO COMBAT COVID-19
Information Technology, Government of India. The
app, which is ready to be launched post certain security ● Government of Kerala - GoK- Direct
checks, is a part of National Digital Blueprint and ● Medanta Hospitals - Medanta e-clinic
is aimed to enable people to store all details of their ● Cloudnine Group of Hospitals - ‘Its our Baby’
health records which could be shared by physicians ● Plexus Cardiac Care and Medi 360 - Plexus
even if they are not carrying physical files.
Connect
Telemedicine route ● Kerala Chapter of Indian Medical Association

A humane touch to the digital approach is however and Kerala state police - ‘Blue Telemed’
added through telemedicine. Though recently
approved in India, telemedicine has brought profound using this platform.
change in the global setting. Telemedicine started The Kerala Chapter of Indian Medical Association
to step forward in India few years back when Apollo
Hospitals, AIIMS and Narayana Health started in collaboration with the state police has launched a
offering audio video consultations via AskApollo.com, telemedicine app ‘Blue Telemed’ with the help of a
Google Hangouts and Cisco’s Virtual Expertise Digital Kochi based firm BlueEHR. Fortis Hospital has started
Solution respectively, enabling instant consultation by offering telemedicine services for domestic patients at
a family doctor or a specialist. an individual level. Wockhardt Hospital is using Zoom
for e-consultation. Cloudnine Group of Hospitals has
Gurugram based Medanta Hospitals too offers launched its teleconsultation service through ‘Its our
telemedicine to international patients through its Baby’ app.
Medanta e-clinic app and telemedicine portal. Smart
phone penetration, advancement of technology with To fight against COVID-19 and to facilitate the
3G, 4G and even 5G, high definition camera and the home stay for the safety of the patients, Manipal
adaptability for a video call has now increased the Hospitals Dwarka has taken this tech-driven initiative
acceptance of Telemedicine. of video consultation with the specialists. One step
ahead, in order to help pregnant women to fight
Apollo Hospital runs Apollo TeleHealth through anxiety, stress during COVID-19, Motherhood hospital
public-private partnerships (PPPs) with several state has launched virtual LAMAZE (information-based
governments to provide telemedicine-enabled primary classes for childbirth preparation and breastfeeding)
healthcare centers, pharmacies and tele-emergency and prenatal yoga classes for their regular as well as
centers to underserved population. However, it is the new patients.
current coronavirus pandemic which has resulted in
the approval of telemedicine guidelines by Ministry of Gujarat based Plexus Cardiac Care (Jalaram
Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), in collaboration Hospital) and Bengaluru based clinic Medi 360 have
with NITI Aayog and Medical Council of India Board announced Plexus Connect App for all COVID-19
of Governors (MCI BOG) which has boosted its uptake patients who at their home can get in touch with a
and penetration for COVID-19 positive as well as non- team of physicians and cardiologists to address all
COVID-19 patients. their medical and emergency queries and get free
advices and consultations.
In a recent development, Medical Council of India
(MCI) and Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) have Bengaluru based RxDx Clinics is using AI powered
started an initiative to sensitise and train doctors service provided by startup Mfine, to continue with its
around the country in deploying telehealth services on OPD services as India has started preparing itself for a
a wide scale to meet the healthcare needs of the people long drawn battle to combat the ongoing coronavirus
during the COVID-19 crisis. Doctors across the country crisis.
are being asked to join this initiative by attending the
training module and upskilling themselves in offering Overall, digitalization of patient engagement by
telehealth services to as many people as possible. hospitals has provided immense convenience, time
saving and accuracy for the patients. It has become
With many hospitals reducing their consultation easier for hospitals also to manage the patients. In
services during the pandemic, E-consultation has addition, telemedicine has a potential to provide
become the priority of hospitals. AIIMS in New Delhi better reach and support at the time of emergencies.
is running COVID-19 National Teleconsultation As healthcare systems nationwide brace for a surge
Centre (CoNTeC) on behalf of MoHFW for patients. of COVID-19 cases, healthcare delivery is gradually
Doctors across the country who want to consult AIIMS getting transformed by unleashing the power of digital
faculty for COVID-19 management can also connect technologies.

Swati Shrivastava

36 COVID-19 BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

TRADITIONAL
MEDICINES & COVID-19

Allopathic drugs are already being tried to treat COVID-19 but even with promising results these drugs

always comes with some side-effects unlike in case of traditional system of medicines.

India has perhaps the world’s oldest as well as also written about the epidemiological aspects
largest tradition of systems of medicine. The of microorganisms. He describes the modes of
term Indian Systems of Medicine covers both transmission as Gatrasansparsat (physical contact)
the systems which originated in India as well and Nihsvasat (expelled air) and Saha Bhojanata
as outside but got adopted in India in course of (using same utensils). Ayurveda has spoken of very
time. These systems are Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, potent immuno-modulators. Ashwagandha, Peepli,
Homoeopathy, Yoga, and Naturopathy. They have Giloy and Amla are some of the common ones that
become a part of the culture and traditions of India. are often recommended by Ayurveda doctors. In
India with its strong base in traditional knowledge addition to that, AYUSH ministry has also issued
on herbal medicine and vast plant biodiversity several immunity enhancing guidelines such as
has a great potential in this sector which can be drinking lukewarm water, consuming concoction of
examined in the current pandemic situation where Tulsi and Haldi in water, and applying Anu Oil in
the entire world has been majorly affected with the nostrils.”
COVID-19.
Highlighting the promising role of Ayurveda,
At a time when the world is looking for Vikram Thaploo, CEO, Apollo Tele Health said,
preventive and therapeutic solutions against “There is currently no approved treatment or
coronavirus spread and its effects, examining the vaccine for COVID-19. Multiple lines of treatment
ways in which traditional medicine system can have been put forward and even practiced in
play a role can be crucial. Allopathic drugs are different countries to treat seriously ill patients
already being tried to treat COVID-19 but even of COVID-19. Initially, doctors in India, as well as
with promising results these drugs always comes other countries, used anti-retroviral drugs used
with some side-effects unlike in case of traditional in AIDS treatment; influenza drug Oseltamivir
system of medicines. was also used in select cases. In the US, the use of
drug Remdesivir has been authorized to be used
How promising it can be? for critically ill patients. However, all these lines of
treatment have not been backed by any conclusive
Ayurveda has spoken of epidemics in great details. clinical trial so far. Coronavirus has therefore
Acharya Chakrapani has written on simultaneous exposed an area of concern for pharmaceutical
and widespread manifestation of disease with the
same set of symptoms throughout a community.

Talking about the promising role of Ayurveda
Dr Partap Chauhan, Director, Jiva Ayurveda said,
“The global Ayurveda community is working
on a war footing to develop treatment for
COVID-19. The Ayurvedic term for an epidemic is
Janapadodhwansa Roga and has been described
to be caused by Abhisyangaja, which means
spread by pathogens because of unhygienic
conditions. Vitiation of Vayu (air), Jala (water),
Desh (geographic location) & Kala (season) leads
to mass-level infections. Acharya Charak describes
two causative factors of epidemic: Niyata Hetu
(inevitable factors caused by forces of nature) and
Aniyata Hetu (avoidable factors such as pathogens,
acts of terrorism, or war). Acharya Sushruta has

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 37

companies which is the low amount of antivirals “Traditional medicine has
in the market especially when compared to been widely appreciated
antibiotics. This void has understandably turned around the globe for its safe,
people’s attention to traditional medicines.” economical and holistic health
improvement, however there
Health & AYUSH Ministries recently launched are a few challenges that need
inter-disciplinary studies involving AYUSH to be addressed for Indian
interventions for COVID-19 situation. Ministry traditional medicine to be
of AYUSH in collaboration with the Council of accepted with complete faith.”
Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has started
clinical trials testing formulation of four important - Dr Muhammed Majeed,
Ayurvedic herbs in fighting the novel coronavirus Founder & Chairman, Sami-Sabinsa Group, Bengaluru
which includes Ashwagandha, Guduchi,
Yasthimadhu, Peepli and another formulated drug, “It’s a tough journey because
‘AYUSH- 64’. the traditional medicine system

Major Challenges that is there for thousands of
years, has not be updated with
Although widely used for the prevention of various
types of infection, therapeutic use of traditional time. It’s been ages that new
system of medicine is still low due to lack of research and development
large-scale clinical trials and studies to create
scientifically-backed conclusive medicinal system. took place in Ayurveda. It’s an
alarming sign for those who
Talking about the major challenges in this
direction, Kamal Narayan, CEO, Integrated are in power to take necessary
Health & Wellbeing (IHW) Council (A preventive, steps in the direction of reviving
promotive health think tank) said, “The major
challenge for ayurvedic medicines will be providing the heritage of traditional
treatment specifically for COVID-19, in which medicine system for the benefit
the virus is reported to be changing its behaviour
regularly. This may require wide-ranging research of humanity”.
to explore how ayurvedic medicines can help - Kamayani Naresh,
in preventing infection and whether it can help
in providing curative treatment also. The high Founder & CEO, Zyropathy, New Delhi
contagiousness, fast progression and associated
complications of COVID-19 also underline the “The major challenge for
need for a rapid-action medication, and ayurvedic ayurvedic medicines will be
medicines have to be evaluated on this parameter providing treatment specifically
also.” for COVID-19, in which the virus
is reported to be changing
Sharing his views on possible challenges its behaviour regularly. This
& gaps, Dr Muhammed Majeed, Founder and
Chairman, Sami-Sabinsa Group said, “Traditional may require wide-ranging
medicine has been widely appreciated around the research to explore how
globe for its safe, economical and holistic health
improvement, however there are a few challenges ayurvedic medicines can help
that need to be addressed for Indian traditional in preventing infection and
medicine to be accepted with complete faith.”
whether it can help in providing
Some of the challenges faced include: curative treatment also. The high
Quality issues: Adulteration, misidentification contagiousness, fast progression
of plants, faulty collection & preparation and
incorrect formulation process are some of the and associated complications
major problems which reduce the effectiveness of COVID-19 also underline
of herbal preparation and thus resulting in the need for a rapid-action
ineffectiveness or even adverse reactions. medication, and ayurvedic
Harvesting and processing: Indiscriminate
harvesting, poor agriculture practices and lack medicines have to be evaluated
of processing techniques lead to the substandard on this parameter also.”
- Kamal Narayan,
CEO, Integrated Health &
Wellbeing (IHW) Council, New Delhi

38 COVID-19 BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“There is currently no approved MINISTRY OF HEALTH &
treatment or vaccine for AYUSH LAUNCHES STUDIES
AGAINST COVID-19
COVID-19. Multiple lines of
treatment have been put Clinical research studies on Ayurveda
forward and even practiced interventions as prophylaxis and as an add-on to
standard care to COVID-19: Collaborative clinical
in different countries to studies as a joint initiative of Ministry of AYUSH,
treat seriously ill patients of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)
COVID-19. Initially, doctors in and the Ministry of Science & Technology through
India, as well as other countries, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)
used anti-retroviral drugs used with technical support of ICMR.
in AIDS treatment; influenza
drug Oseltamivir was also used The Interdisciplinary Ayush R&D Task Force
in select cases. In the US, the headed by Dr Bhushan Patvardhan, Vice Chairman,
use of drug Remdesivir has University Grant Commission (UGC), has formulated
been authorized to be used for and designed clinical research protocols for
critically ill patients. However, prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in
all these lines of treatment COVID-19 positive cases through thorough review
have not been backed by any and consultative process of experts of high repute
conclusive clinical trial so far. from different organisations across the country
for studying four different interventions viz.
Coronavirus has therefore Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi +Pippali and
exposed an area of concern for a poly herbal formulation (AYUSH-64).

pharmaceutical companies a. Ashwagandha for the Prophylaxes against
which is the low amount SARS-COV-2 in subjects with increased risk during
of antivirals in the market the COVID 19 Pandemic: A comparison with
Hydroxychloroquine in the health care providers and
especially when compared
to antibiotics. This void has b. Effectiveness of Ayurveda Formulation as an
adjunct to ‘Standard of Care’ for the Treatment of
understandably turned Mild to Moderate COVID-19: A Randomized, Open
people’s attention to traditional Label, Parallel Efficacy, Active Control, Multi-Centre
Exploratory Drug Trial.
medicines.”
- Vikram Thaploo,

CEO, Apollo Tele Health, Hyderabad

“We have of course been quality of herbal drugs.
prescribing prophylaxis Scientific research: Research on efficacy,

medicines to more than 40,000 dosage, processing and techniques are needed so
patients in over 18 countries. that it can be properly validated in clinical trials.

We have also treated over 200 Validation through controlled clinical
COVID-19 positive cases, using trials: Clinical trials are necessary to understand
the safety and efficacy of these drugs before
e-consultation in patients in introducing them in the global market.
the United States, the United
Kingdom, France, Singapore Biopiracy: Biopiracy is a major hurdle in
and different parts of the world. the promotion of herbal traditional medicine.
Moreover documentation of traditional knowledge
We need better cohesion about herbs is important to be passed onto the
between conventional doctors future generations.

and homeopaths especially Dr Kalyan Banerjee and Dr Kushal Banerjee
in serious cases which are not of Dr Kalyan Banerjee’s Clinic, Delhi said,
“Objectively evaluating treatment outcomes is the
responding to conventional most important aspect of assessing the impact
treatment.” of any treatment regimen especially in cases of
- Dr Kalyan Banerjee, a new illness like COVID-19 and a new virus like
the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV2. We need
Dr Kalyan Banerjee’s Clinic, New Delhi to use evidence-based principles and ensure

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com COVID-19 39

Population based interventional studies on “The global Ayurveda
impact of AYUSH based prophylactic interventions: community is working on a war
The ministry of AYUSH is initiating population-
based studies to study the impact of Ayurvedic footing to develop treatment
Interventions in prevention of COVID-19 infection in for COVID-19. Ayurveda has
high risk population. The core objectives comprise
of, assessment of preventive potential of AYUSH spoken of very potent immuno-
interventions for COVID-19 and also to assess modulators. Ashwagandha,
the improvement in Quality of Life in high risk Peepli, Giloy and Amla are
population. The study will be carried out through
four Research Councils under Ministry of AYUSH some of the common ones that
and National Institutes in 25 states across the are often recommended by
country and several State Governments covering
approximately 5 lakh population. The outcome of Ayurveda doctors. In addition
the study would certainly pave a new horizon in to that, AYUSH ministry has
understanding the preventive potential of AYUSH also issued several immunity
interventions during pandemics like COVID-19 enhancing guidelines such
through scientific evidence. as drinking lukewarm water,
consuming concoction of
Elaborating on the importance of these studies, Tulsi and Haldi in water, and
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health & Family Welfare
Minister stated that these studies shall re-establish applying Anu Oil in the nostrils.”
the importance of AYUSH pathies with the help of - Dr Partap Chauhan,
rigour of CSIR, ICMR and DCGI. “The technology
alliance provides valuable opportunity for such Director, Jiva Ayurveda, Faridabad
knowledge based solutions to continue to benefit
us even after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, emerge as a future of medicine in India only if there
by possible integration of AYUSH in the mainstream is enough support from the government in terms of
scientific efforts”, he added. Let us also understand proper funding for R&D and other factors.
that the modern pathies of medicine and science
are not in competition with those of AYUSH, but Talking about the way forward and importance
they complement and strengthen each other in of investing in R&D, Kamayani Naresh, Founder &
intrinsic ways, Dr Harsh Vardhan stated. CEO, Zyropathy said, “If I go by the rules of ICMR,
we should treat all medicine systems equally. But
that our data is based on an adequate sample of at the same time, we also need to understand
participants. On the ground, it has been difficult the purpose of the system for which it has been
for homeopaths to get access to patients who have introduced. Many of us don’t know that Allopathy
tested positive for COVID-19, until recently. We, was introduced for symptom control only and not
at Dr Kalyan Banerjee’s Clinic, have of course been for curing ailments, but today, people take it as an
prescribing prophylaxis medicines to more than ultimate remedy thinking it will provide cure to
40,000 patients in over 18 countries. We have also the disease or ailment from the root. This gap of
treated over 200 COVID-19 positive cases, using understanding has hampered the system a lot. We
e-consultation in patients in the United States, the need to understand that when it comes to curing
United Kingdom, France, Singapore and different an ailment from its root, only Ayurvedic Herbs has
parts of the world. We need better cohesion the ability to do so. From hypertension, diabetics,
between conventional doctors and homeopaths cancer, lung disorders, to kidney failures all can
especially in serious cases which are not responding be cured from its root, it’s just we need to go back
to conventional treatment.” invest in research and development of new herbal
combinations keeping the nature of disease in mind
Way Forward and see the difference.”

Ministry of AYUSH has created an interdisciplinary “It’s a tough journey because the traditional
task force comprising of members from various medicine system that is there for thousands of
research agencies, working on addressing the issues years, has not be updated with time. It’s been ages
the traditional medicines faces today. Traditional that new research and development took place in
medicines can be the game changer and will Ayurveda. It’s an alarming sign for those who are
in power to take necessary steps in the direction of
reviving the heritage of traditional medicine system
for the benefit of humanity”, he concluded.

Kalyani Sharma
[email protected]

40 SPEAKING WITH BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“Our efforts are focused on
offering a safe and
efficacious COVID-19 vaccine”

« of NASH anywhere in the world, a disease that is
highly prevalent with 10 per cent to 30 per cent of the
Dr Sharvil Patel, global population being affected by it. The prevalence
Managing Director, of NASH in India is estimated to be nearly 25 per
Zydus Cadila, cent of the population and ranks as one of the major
Ahmedabad causes of cirrhosis, behind hepatitis C and alcoholic
liver disease. Liver transplantation is the only
Zydus Cadila, an innovation-driven, global option for managing advanced cirrhosis with liver
pharmaceutical company, has recently failure. Saroglitazar is uniquely poised with its dual
received the approval from the Drug PPAR alpha and gamma properties – reducing the
Controller General of India (DCGI) for use of comorbidities (dyslipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia,
Saroglitazar in the treatment of type II diabetes diabetes mellitus) and causing NASH resolution.
mellitus as an add on therapy with Metformin. The Zydus achieved positive results in EVIDENCES II
drug was previously approved in the year 2013 for trial, a phase 3 liver biopsy trial of Saroglitazar 4
the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia and diabetic mg versus placebo in Indian patients with NASH.
dyslipidemia in India. More than 1 million patients The trial evaluated the histological improvement of
are being treated with Lipaglyn. BioSpectrum has NASH using liver biopsy at the end of 52 weeks and
spoken to Dr Sharvil Patel, Managing Director of successfully met primary and secondary endpoints.
Zydus Cadila about the future plans for the product Saroglitazar 4 mg demonstrated a significant
and about the accelerated research programme reduction in liver fat, liver enzymes and disease
launched for the development of the vaccine against activity.
coronavirus. Edited excerpts;
What are your future plans for this drug?
Diabetes drug Saroglitzar is the world’s
first drug for the treatment of Non-Cirrhotic We will be launching the drug in India within
NASH to be approved by DCGI. Your three months. On the global front, a phase 2 trial
comments on that. (EVIDENCES IV) of Saroglitazar mg in patients
with NASH in the US met primary and secondary
We are happy that our efforts to discover and endpoints. The results were successful and
develop a novel drug for patients living with non- presented at The Liver Meeting 2019, the annual
alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), unmet healthcare meeting of the American Association for the Study
need globally have been successful. Saroglitazar of Liver Diseases (AASLD) held at Boston. We
will provide hope and new lease of life for millions will be approaching the United States Food and
of patients in India suffering from non-alcoholic Drug Administration (USFDA) for further clinical
steatohepatitis, which is a progressive disease of development.
the liver, which starts with fat accumulation in the
liver known as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease After signing a licensing agreement with
(NAFLD). This condition could progress to cirrhosis Xoma, Zydus has joined the race of IO
and liver failure. It is a large unmet medical need as therapy. This decision was based on what
there is currently no approved drug for the treatment factors?

We have been exploring several cutting edge
research pathways as part of our innovation
programme. We believe that IL-2 will be the
backbone of IO-based therapies for cancer treatment
in the future. We see a great strategic fit between our
IL-2 and XOMA’s anti-IL-2 monoclonal antibody as

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com SPEAKING WITH 41

together they have the potential to provide a safe and “We have initiated an accelerated research
efficacious medicine to address the unmet needs of programme with multiple teams in India
patients living with cancer. and Europe for developing a coronavirus
vaccine. The first approach deals with the
Tell us about the launch of the accelerated development of a DNA vaccine against the
research programme launched for the major viral membrane protein responsible
development of the vaccine against for the cell entry of the novel coronavirus,
coronavirus. now called COVID-19. The second approach
deals with the development of a live
We have initiated an accelerated research attenuated recombinant measles virus
programme with multiple teams in India and vectored vaccine against COVID-19. We are
Europe for developing a coronavirus vaccine. The also screening a few candidates from our
first approach deals with the development of a existing portfolio of therapeutics for the
DNA vaccine against the major viral membrane treatment of COVID-19.”
protein responsible for the cell entry of the novel
coronavirus, now called COVID-19. The second In 2019, Zydus received market approval
approach deals with the development of a live for Twinrab, the development of which was
attenuated recombinant measles virus vectored due to an agreement with WHO in 2008
vaccine against COVID-19.We are also screening that sought to explore opportunities for
a few candidates from our existing portfolio of developing MAbs for the treatment of rabies.
therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19. Your comment on the success of the same.

It is being said that the vaccine for Yes, in 2008, we joined hands with the World Health
Coronavirus is expected to be ready within Organization (WHO) to explore opportunities in the
3-6 months. Tell us more about this. development of a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies
for the treatment of rabies. We believe that the use
It’s too early to comment on specific timelines of rabies monoclonal antibodies could emerge as
but our efforts are focused on offering a safe and an innovative therapy and form a potent alternative
efficacious vaccine. to current blood-derived rabies immunoglobulins
(RIG’s) produced by vaccinating horses (ERIG) or
Zydus traditionally associated with generics humans (HRIG). After nearly a decade of research,
is now focusing more on innovative drug we received the approval from the DCGI for Twinrab,
development. What is the reason behind the which is indicated in combination with rabies
change in the focus? vaccine for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. WHO
encourages the use of monoclonal antibodies over
We have been an innovation-driven company and blood-derived RIG where available and has identified
that has been our key focus areas. In fact, our first the development of products containing two or more
range of products launched by erstwhile Cadila antibodies that bind to two different sites on the
Laboratories in 1952 was all research-based. rabies virus as a research priority. Zydus’ Twinrab
Our research programme which comprises New is the only therapy that meets this requirement. The
Chemical Entities (NCE), Biologics and Vaccines USFDA has granted an orphan drug status to this
have been underway since the last two decades. candidate.
In 2010, we launched India’s first indigenously
manufactured swine flu vaccine to combat the What are the future plans of Zydus? Any
nation-wide outbreak; Lipaglyn launched in 2013 more signing of licensing agreement or
was India’s first NCE to travel all the way from acquisitions in the pipeline?
the lab to market; Exemptia was the world’s
first biosimilar of Adalimumab for inflammatory We will continue to be a research-based, innovation-
disorders; VaxiFlu 4 was the first indigenously driven company. Our aim will be to bring new
manufactured quadrivalent influenza vaccine in therapies to the market globally and explore
India; TwinRab the novel biologic developed in opportunities to collaborate with research-driven
collaboration with the World Health Organisation organisations to address unmet healthcare needs.
for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis is also the
first of its kind in the world. With Saroglitazar, the Prapti Shah
first therapy to be approved anywhere in the world
for NASH, we now have 6 ‘firsts’ that have been
successfully discovered and developed through
Zydus’ innovation programme.

42 SPEAKING WITH BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

“We intend to establish Takeda
India as a CoE in clinical research”

« that is fundamental to our philosophy to address the
broader structural barriers that prevent patients in
Koki Sato, underserved communities from receiving the care
General Manager, and treatment they deserve. With my appointment,
Takeda Pharmaceuticals I will look at supporting the team in India to further
India Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai bolster our commitment to patients, build trust with
the key stakeholders across the ecosystem, strengthen
our reputation in the country and drive the business
to newer heights.

Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company What are the major initiatives in store to
Takeda announced the appointment of Koki ensure affordable and accessible healthcare
Sato as the Head for the company’s India delivery in India?
business on April 1, 2020. Sato has been a part
of Takeda since 2003 and has grown within the Our philosophy of Takeda-ism, which includes
company to hold various senior international roles integrity, fairness, honesty, and perseverance,
across multiple functions, including commercial is deeply ingrained in the way we work. Equally
operations, finance, and HR. Prior to this role, important to this are our priority of being patient-
he was the General Manager of Ukraine, Belarus, centric, maintaining trust, and taking care of our
and Moldova (UBM) Cluster in Takeda’s ICMEA reputation and business. India is a diverse country.
(India, C.I.S., Middle East, Turkey, and Africa) area. To ensure maximised coverage of our initiatives, we
BioSpectrum India took this opportunity to interact have adopted a multi-pronged approach including
with Koki Sato, General Manager (GM), Takeda Patient Support Program that is implemented
Pharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd to find out more through a duly approved third party whichaims at
about the growth of the India business at Takeda. providing personalized and comprehensive care (like
Edited excerpts; diagnostic testing, physiotherapy, nursing support,
counselling etc.) to patients for their incremental
How has been the growth of Takeda India improvement, so that they can eventually start living
since its inception in 2011? What changes a near normal life. Along with this, we intend to
are you planning to bring under your leverage and replicate curated initiatives and global
leadership? best practices in India for the benefit of patients.

Takeda has been steadily growing in the country What are the innovative medicines Takeda is
since 2011. Takeda expanded its footprint and bringing to India in the coming years?
portfolio in India with the acquisition of Shire
Pharmaceuticals in 2019. In FY 2019, Takeda India We are working towards developing a robust
achieved a strong double-digit growth with the team’s pipeline of products to augment our vision of
relentless commitment to patients and business.
Our immunology and haematology businesses
have led our growth across the country and have
maintained their leadership positions in the market.
We also launched our genetic disease (GD) portfolio
to augment our commitment to patients suffering
from rare diseases in India. As we move forward,
our vision is to increase momentum in serving the
patient needs through our innovative therapies. We
have a strong Access to Medicine (AtM) strategy

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com SPEAKING WITH 43

serving patients with innovative therapies. We are base by conducting clinical research across relevant
constantly assessing the Indian pharma landscape therapeutic areas for our innovative medicines.
and preparing our portfolio to meet the requirements We intend to establish Takeda India as a centre of
of the healthcare market in the country. Our product excellence in clinical research as part of global clinical
portfolio reflects our strong commitment towards trials and have accelerated approvals of advanced
therapies where treatment options are limited for research molecules available for Indian patients. We
patients. So, we will continue our focus on medicines intend to publish safety and efficacy data in Indian
that treat rare diseases like lysosomal storage patients from mid to long-term. Another focus for
disorders, haemophilia and primary immuno- R&D in India is healthcare professional training and
deficiencies. We have a few new treatments in our education to ensure better patient management and
pipeline. One of the most significant unmet need in outcomes with our medicines.
tropical countries like India is dengue. We plan to
launch our innovative dengue vaccine in the coming How is Takeda addressing the current
years with robust clinical safety and efficacy data that situation of COVID-19? What steps are being
impacts not only economic and healthcare burden taken and what is the progress so far?
but also reduces significant disease morbidity and
mortality. We are working with relevant stakeholders Our response to the coronavirus outbreak is guided
in government, regulatory and industry to accelerate by our values. During such a crisis, our priority is to
the launch with appropriate safeguards in place. protect our employees and their families, while also
working to best support our patients, communities,
What steps are being taken to address the and importantly, the health care providers upon
problem of rare diseases in India? which so many rely. We have adjusted our business
approach as a result of this outbreak. Along with
At Takeda, we believe in a patient-centric approach. protecting our employees, we are taking conscious
With access being a significant challenge, we have efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus and reduce
some global initiatives like the Charitable Access the burden of the outbreak on the general health care
Program that support patients in their disease system. As per Takeda’s global advisory, our telework
journey. We also run and sponsor multiple diseases guidance applies to all our colleagues including our
and therapy-related awareness and scientific customer facing employees, especially those who
programs for doctors to help them understand such interact with healthcare professionals. Technology
conditions to ensure early diagnosis, referral and is critical now more than ever. Our employees are
treatment of rare disease patients. For rare diseases, technologically savvy and able to stay connected and
it is important to work across multiple stakeholders work productively from home or other locations.
such as government, payors, providers and Where possible we are encouraging our people to
physicians to have a multi-pronged approach such as conduct their meetings virtually using the array of
Patient Registry and Rare Disease Policy that targets technology tools, we have available. We are taking
access to treatment. additional measure in every market as per the local
law and directives to ensure safety of our employees
Are you planning to establish R&D activities while maintaining business continuity and access to
in India as well? therapy for patients. In addition, Takeda and other
world-leading plasma companies have come together
Our three main R&D facilities are based in Japan and to focus on developing a hyperimmune globulin in
the US. In India, we are planning to expand the R&D the global fight against COVID-19 through CoVIg-19
Plasma Alliance. It is an initiative to accelerate the
development of a potential treatment for COVID-19.
Developing a hyperimmune will require plasma
donation from many individuals who have fully
recovered from COVID-19, and whose blood contains
antibodies that can fight the novel coronavirus.
Once collected, the convalescent plasma would then
be transported to manufacturing facilities where it
undergoes proprietary processing, including effective
virus inactivation and removal processes, and then is
purified into the product.

Dr Manbeena Chawla
[email protected]

44 ACADEMICS NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

IGIB inks TTA with TATA Sons for COVID-19 assay

New Delhi based CSIR- Institute can be deployed for COVID-19
of Genomics and Integrative testing on ground. A completely
Biology (CSIR-IGIB) and indigenous scientific invention,
Mumbai based TATA Sons FELUDA for COVID-19 has
have signed a Memorandum been designed for mitigating the
of Understanding (MoU) for ongoing COVID-19 situation and
licensing of knowhow for cater to mass testing. Its main
FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform advantages are its affordability,
Detection Assay (FELUDA) for relative ease of use and non-
rapid diagnosis of COVID-19. The dependency on expensive Q-PCR
technology transfer agreement machines. CSIR IGIB and TATA
(TTA) includes transfer of the Sons will now work together to
knowledge for scaling up the bring it for widespread use at the
knowhow in the form of a kit that earliest.

IIT-H joins hands
with Hong Kong firm

Indian Institute of Tokyo, Japan, as well as IIT-GN launches
Technology Hyderabad in Telangana and will PG diploma courses
(IIT-H) has collaborated help create an ecosystem
with New Frontier that is connected to global The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Capital Management, a research institutions. This Gandhinagar (GN), has launched a one year
financial firm based in MoU will allow IIT-H to post graduate diploma programme to help its
Hong Kong with offices seek funding from the graduating students whose higher education
in Tokyo and Singapore, global funds operated or employment plans have been disrupted
to establish a global by New Frontier Capital due to the coronavirus outbreak. The
network for ventures Management for its postgraduate diploma including biological
as well as to create a incubators and accelerator engineering will also enable students to seek
venture ecosystem. The programmes. This lateral entry in M.Tech programmes. The
core objective of this collaboration will also diploma will feature intensive course-work
partnership will be to facilitate the introduction similar to the M.Tech programme but with
promote innovation, of more Japanese and no thesis or research requirements. The
research and incubation. global companies to IIT-H course will also help graduating students
The MoU also envisages to promote research and who are interested in exploring, but are not
establishment of Joint development, innovation fully committed to a master’s programme. In
Innovation Centres in and incubation. addition, the premiere institute will also be
offering two fellowships – ‘IIT Gandhinagar
Junior Fellowship in Leadership’ and
‘Sabarmati Bridge Fellowship’ to enable
students to undertake unconventional
professional and exciting research
opportunities and pursue their passions.

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46 R&D NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

IICT to develop CCMB to culture coronavirus
indigenous for further research
RT-PCR kit
for COVID-19 Hyderabad based CSIR- virus outside the human host
Centre for Cellular and is a technological challenge
Hyderabad based Indian Molecular Biology (CCMB) that needs to be overcome.
Institute of Chemical will use Bengaluru based Eyestem’s cell culture
Technology (CSIR-IICT) Eyestem’s human lung system expresses the ACE2
is working to develop an epithelial cell culture system receptor and other genes
affordable RT-PCR (reverse provided as part of its Anti- that are key determinants of
transcription polymerase chain CovidScreening (ACS) viral entry and replication.
reaction) kit indigenously. platform to understand the The researchers hope that
The institute intends to use molecular and pathological employing this system will
recombinant technology for the characteristics of the allow them to grow the virus
production of several enzymes COVID-19 virus with a view predictably and thereby
used in the kit and optimize the to establishing a rational open up the potential for
reagent conditions to match basis for testing potential drug screening and vaccine
the regulatory requirements. drugs in vitro. Culturing the development strategies.
The partnering company
US based Genomix Biotech RCB working on new
will optimize the kit for solutions to beat COVID-19
COVID-19 diagnosis by adding
the Taqman probes. This A team of researchers at
collaboration will help produce
quality RT-PCR kits that are Faridabad-based Regional
affordable and will cater to the
huge demand for the product Centre for Biotechnology
in the country due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Further, (RCB) has initiated a
the RT-PCR kit developed
by CSIR-IICT can also be study to engineer virucidal
used in various other disease
diagnostics in humans, animals
and plants. This technology
is expected to bring down the
overall cost of RT-PCR-based
diagnosis in the country.

coatings to prevent the

COVID-19 Transmission.

The study is being conducted

in collaboration with the

Translational Health Science

and Technology Institute activity responsible for the
duplication of the RNA
(THSTI) and Indian Institute genome of the SARS-CoV-2
virus. In addition, a group
of Technology, Delhi. In of scientists is working to
develop a highly sensitive
another effort to help fight and specific, rapid, point-of-
care, low-resource-requiring,
the pandemic, a research colorimetric and cost-effective
test for COVID-19 detection.
group at RCB is trying to find

out how to inhibit the activity

of a protein called nsp12

protein that houses the RNA-

dependent RNA polymerase

Promega supports scale up
of COVID-19 testing capacity

In a major step to counter the coronavirus crisis, Promega India is supporting
government agencies through its automated instruments. The Maxwell® RSC
instrument is a compact, automated RNA extraction platform that processes
up to 48 samples of Corona Virus simultaneously in less than 35 minutes .
The automated Promega solution allows laboratories to process up to 400
samples in a typical 8-hour shift

As Covid19 cases accelerate, the country has Forensic Science Laboratory-Jaipur and SMS Hospital Jaipur join hands
decided to use scale up testing capacity to together to use Promega Maxwell® RSC 48 to increase COVID-19 testing
100,000 tests per day in the coming days capacity. COVID-19 pandemic situation labs are experiencing unprecedented
need for reagents to perform viral testing. This urgency has led many
scientists & communities to make new connections and build creative,
collaborative solutions.perform viral testing.

Forensic Science Laboratory-Jaipur has recently procured two Maxwell® RSC 48 instruments from Promega for extracting
DNA from casework samples . The government firm has now decided to support SMS Hospital Jaipur in this pandemic
situation by providing the procured instruments to the renowned hospital for RNA extraction for Corona Virus testing.

The Promega team supported with its Maxwell unit at AIIMS Rishikesh .The team also conducted the virtual training so the
labs can use the instrument in this pandemic situation.

Promega also offered a Maxwell unit at Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC)
Mumbai for emergency use. Mumbai has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India so far.

Promega Maxwell units are also used by few other labs across the India as for COVID testing .

“We are grateful that leading communities across the globe are supporting each other during this COVID-19 pandemic
and that Promega products can be of use to combat against the difficult times the world is facing. Promega began
scaling up reagent manufacturing in January to address global needs and has maintained accelerated production since
then. Operations teams continue to work on ways to expand production to further meet unprecedented demand,” said Dr
Rajnish Bharti, General Manager Promega Biotech India Pvt Ltd.

Promega manufactures reagents used for COVID-19 testing. The company’s components currently support approximately
28 COVID-19 test kits around the world, and Promega provides RNA extraction reagents for more than 500 clinical labs
globally.

Promega remains committed to supporting scientists around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promega Biotech India Private Limited : Unit No S -114, Salcon Aurum Building Jasola District Centre, New Delhi-110044
Questions? Contact us at [email protected]

48 SUPPLIER NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

Thermo Fisher brings SARS-CoV-2 sequencing program

To accelerate national, multi- CoV-2 sequencing data that can Access to such data can accelerate
institutional efforts focused be quickly and easily generated researchers’ understanding of how
on mapping coronavirus and shared among partners in the the virus is evolving, assist with
transmission and epidemiological scientific community is critical. contact tracing and transmission
studies, Thermo Fisher Scientific interruption efforts, and inform
has announced the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development programs.
Global Access Sequencing The Genexus System is the world’s
Program for research consortia first turnkey next-generation
and industry groups battling the sequencing (NGS) solution that
spread of the pandemic globally. is designed to deliver results in a
Under the program, the company day with five minutes of hands-on
will provide 50 units of the Ion time in a decentralized laboratory
Torrent Genexus System at a setting. The platform’s ease of
subsidized price to support global use and automation has been
collaborative COVID-19 research. developed to provide researchers,
As countries begin to reopen, regardless of expertise level, access
the need for real-time SARS- to the power of NGS technology.

Eurofins unveils Canadian Crystalline
RT multiplex PCR manufactures UV,
test for COVID-19 ozone disinfection
systems
Eurofins Technologies announces the launch of its RT-PCR
(polymerase chain reaction to reverse transcriptase chain A pioneer in global water technology
reaction) CE-IVD marked multiplex for direct qualitative solution, Canadian Crystalline Water
detection of the pathogen of the new coronavirus (SARS- India through its life sciences division has
CoV-2). The development of the test was led by the affiliated ventured into manufacturing ultra violet
companies Gold Standard Diagnostics Inc., VIROTECH (UV) and ozone disinfection system for air
Diagnostics GmbH and Nova TecImmundiagnostica GmbH. and surface to meet the challenges of the
ongoing global pandemic. This is India’s
These specialized first manufacturing facility to produce
diagnostic technology disinfection systems for air, surface,
companies are enclosed spaces and fabrics with the
well-established brand name Silverstream. The plant which
providers of testing is spread over 3,00,000 sqmetres has
solutions, which are the capacity to produce 1000 pieces in a
strongly focused on week is buzzing with activities these days.
scientific excellence The products are priced at as low as Rs
in infectious disease 15, 000. The group’s pan India presence
testing. They work include, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and
closely with Eurofins Kolkata, with their head office in Chennai.
scientists around
the world to design
and validate the new product. The GSD NovaPrime SARS-
CoV-2 is a real-time multiplex PCR for the direct qualitative
detection of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen. The assay
simultaneously detects two target sequences within the N
gene. Multiplex PCR provides a streamlined workflow in a
reaction and provides results in approximately two hours
of PCR. An extraction or inhibition control and a positive
control are included in the reagents.

BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com SUPPLIER NEWS 49

Genei Labs builds Beckman
versatile COVID-19 test kit Coulter
launches RNA
Bengaluru based company developed for COVID-19 and extraction kit
Genei Laboratories is gearing it can be extremely useful for
up for mass production of high throughput screening Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
testing kits in collaboration with high specificity. Since has announced the launch of
with Andhra Pradesh fluorescent probes are not RNAdvance Viral XP, a new
MedTech Zone (AMTZ), required for this assay, the kit RNA extraction kit validated
Vishakhapatnam. The will be manufactured locally for use in infectious disease and
technology is developed by with indigenous reagents and real-time PCR virus research.
Indian Institute of Technology manufactured at Genei Labs. The kit is now available for
(IIT)-Delhi and has been purchase as high-throughput
approved by the Indian Council laboratories worldwide ramp
of Medical Research (ICMR) up RNA extraction capabilities.
for its Probe-less RT-PCR- RNAdvance Viral XP is intended
based diagnostic assay. The for use in high-throughput
testing method, developed research workflows to extract
by researchers at IIT Delhi’s viral RNA from swab samples,
Kusuma School of Biological an essential step in the overall
Sciences has received ICMR’s workflow. After RNA extraction,
validation for a sensitivity and the collected RNA is used in qRT-
specificity of 100 per cent. This PCR kits to test whether the RNA
is the first probe-free assay from a virus is present, yielding
a positive or negative result. The
Promega supports scale development team has worked
up of COVID-19 testing capacity closely with global research
partners during the past several
In a major step to counter the coronavirus crisis, Promega India is months to provide customers with
supporting government agencies through its automated instruments. a high-performing, validated viral
The Maxwell RSC instrument is a compact, automated RNA extraction solution during this
extraction platform that processes up to 48 samples of coronavirus time of increased need.
simultaneously in less than 35 minutes. The automated Promega

solution allows laboratories to
process up to 400 samples in
a typical 8-hour shift. Forensic
Science Laboratory (FSL) and
SMS Hospital in Jaipur join
hands together to use Promega
Maxwell RSC 48 to increase
COVID-19 testing capacity.
FSL has recently procured two
Maxwell RSC 48 instruments
from Promega for extracting
DNA from casework samples.
The government firm has now
decided to support SMS Hospital Jaipur in this pandemic situation
by providing the procured instruments to the renowned hospital
for RNA extraction for Corona Virus testing. The Promega team
supported with its Maxwell unit at AIIMS Rishikesh. The team also
conducted the virtual training so the labs can use the instrument in
this pandemic situation.

50 PEOPLE NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | JUNE 2020 | www.biospectrumindia.com

Fortis Healthcare Dr Gurjot Kaur receives
appoints Shailaja Microsoft grant for
Chandra as ID COVID-19 research

The Board A team of scientists led by Dr Gurjot Kaur, Associate
of Directors Professor, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
of Fortis Shoolini University, Himachal Pradesh has been
Health- offered a grant through Microsoft to conduct
care have research on finding drugs to cure and prevent
recom- COVID-19. This
mended the project will
candidature directly influence
of Shailaja the anti-viral drug
Chandra to development.
be appoint- The team will
ed as an In- perform much-
dependent needed screening
Director of phytochemical
(ID) of the constituents
company for a period of five years, not liable for anti-viral
to retire by rotation, subject to approval of activity through
the shareholders of the company. Shailaja has interaction with
spent over 15 years in the health sector and was COVID-19 specific targets using molecular modeling
a Secretary in the Ministry of Health & Family studies. Dr Gurjot has worked as a Post-Doctoral
Welfare, Government of India and later Delhi’s fellow from University of Konstanz, Germany
only woman Chief Secretary. Shailaja has been and has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from
a career civil servant for 38 years followed by a University of Innsbruck, Austria and a M.S. Pharm
series of post-retirement assignments carrying in Biotechnology from NIPER, S.A.S Nagar. Her
executive responsibilities. During her long ser- current research interests include delineating
vice career in the Central Government, she was molecular mechanism important for air pollution in
posted over three tenures with the Ministries of Indian population and improving toxicity profiling
Defence, Power and Health. At the state level, of indigenous Himalayan plants used as traditional
she was posted across the country in Maharash- medicine. She is actively involved in in leadership
tra, Manipur, Goa, Delhi and the Andaman & roles in Society of Toxicology and loves to blog
Nicobar Islands. about science.

Vivimed Labs hires Ramesh Krishnamurthy as CEO

Hyderabad based originally began operations
specialty chemicals and in 1989 as a contract
pharmaceuticals supplier manufacturer for bulk
Vivimed Labs has appointed drugs. It later expanded into
Ramesh Krishnamurthy, a producing specialty chemicals.
veteran of the fast-moving Krishnamurthy is an alumnus
consumer goods sector of the Indian Institute of
as its new chief executive Management-Ahmedabad
officer (CEO). The company (IIM-A). He has previously
has appointed Ramesh overseen general management
Krishnamurthy, a former functions, supply chain
Unilever and Marico Ltd operations, procurement, sales
executive, as its new CEO with and marketing and corporate
effect from June. Vivimed strategy.