Transasia steps up the availability of ELISA test kits as ICMR prepares the country for mass antibody testing
United News of India (UNI) I Bengaluru I 29 June 2020: Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd., the country’s biggest Indian multi-national medical devices company, has announced the wide availability of its recently launched ELISA antibody test kits through its countrywide network of over 50,000 diagnostic labs.
In a press release issued here on Monday, it is stated that validated by ICMR and NIV, Transasia’s US-developed ErbaLisa COVID-19 IgG ELISA kit has more than 98% sensitivity and specificity, and is several times more affordable and accessible than RT-PCR.
The directive takes the authorized labs for COVID-19 testing from the current 500 to over 80,000 labs spread across the country. With the government’s directive for serosurveillance and identification of asymptomatic individuals, the states have been asked to step up their testing capacity and make testing available to all symptomatic patients. Several states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand have ramped up their testing with mega door-to-door serological surveys, and with the new ICMR directive, more states are likely to follow suit.
“With the country slowly trying to emerge from the lockdown and resume functionality, there is a need to scale up testing by at least five times in the next three months. ICMR’s mantra of Test, Track and Treat is very relevant in India to flatten the curve. ELISA test is a promising tool for sero surveillance and to know where the disease stands in the curve. It is with this thought that Antibody ELISA tests are being widely conducted in the US and Europe,” said Mr. Suresh Vazirani, Chairman and Managing Director, Transasia-Erba Group.
“Most labs in India are already equipped with ELISA automation and technicians are well trained for conducting ELISA tests, thus making it the ‘most conducive environment’ for testing. Compared to RT-PCR, the gold standard of testing, ELISA costs 80 percent lesser and allows for volume testing in a short time. The approved Rapid Ag tests, on the other hand, have a sensitivity of 50 percent, making it less reliable and requiring re-testing of large populations,” said Mr Ravi Kaushik, CEO, Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd.
“Transasia is well equipped to meet the government’s current requirement of mass testing. Transasia’s US subsidiary, Calbiotech has a capacity to manufacture 25 lakhs tests per month. Further, our new COVID-19 dedicated manufacturing facility at AMTZ will localize ELISA antibody kits’ manufacturing which will increase the capacity by four times,” added Mr. Kaushik.
Several majorly affected countries in the world are already using Transasia’s ELISA antibody test kits for the past two months.
“Being a global IVD player, Transasia has been at the epicenter of managing this crisis in the US, Europe, Latin American, and Far-East countries. Depending upon the level of seroprevalence of infection, governments and policymakers can plan and implement for prevention and control of the disease, with periodic serosurveys used to guide the policymakers,” said Mr. Vazirani.
About Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd.:
Founded in 1979, Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd., India’s Leading In-vitro Diagnostic Company offers products and solutions in Biochemistry, Hematology, Coagulation, ESR, Immunology, Urinalysis, Critical Care, Diabetes Management, Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics.
Transasia provides doctors and patients with reliable, affordable, and innovative Medical Diagnostic Systems, with an impressive install base of above 70,000 pieces of equipment across 30,000 labs in India. Over 150 crore blood tests get done every year on a Transasia instrument. Its team of sales and service support is the largest in the Indian IVD Industry. The vast network of more than 300 service engineers, 400+ Sales and Marketing teams, 25 zonal offices, and 350+ Distributors allow us to reach out to over 5000 tier II-IV cities, towns, and villages including the farthest northeastern regions.
It is the first Indian company to manufacture and export blood analyzers and reagents, in the 1990s. Today, Transasia’s indigenous research has resulted in the development of state-of-the-art, ‘Make in India’ products and technologies, enabling its products to be among the best in the world.
All along its journey spanning more than four decades, Transasia has been recognized for its commitment to healthcare. The Govt. of India has bestowed Transasia with the ‘India Medical Devices Export Company of the Year’ award. Besides this, Transasia was conferred the ‘Economic Times- Best Brand 2019’ amongst many others.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Transasia is a part of the global Erba Group. The Erba –Transasia Group has spread its footprint across USA, UK, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey through various acquisitions.
Erba’s production sites in India, Czech Republic and USA and R&D centres in France, UK, India, and Czech Republic form a hub for indigenous manufacturing of world-class deliverables. Today, the Erba -Transasia Group serves millions across 100 countries. For further information, kindly visit www.erbamannheim.com
