Hyderabad: An Hyderabad-based company on Saturday introduced a small real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) machine that can test different types of viruses.
The standalone device is portable and can be set up at any place. The device only takes around 30 minutes to conduct the test. It can test for respiratory diseases, other different viruses in the blood or gastrointestinal. The device has also been exhibited at BioAsia 2023.
The CEO of Huwel Lifesciences, Rachana Tripathi said, “we are situated in the Medical Devices Park, Hyderabad. We are manufacturers of diagnostic kits and instruments. We also have many licensed molecular diagnostic kits. This is a small real-time PCR machine with a POCT (point of care testing) kind of system. This can be used anywhere either in the physicians’ room, in hospitals or on fields wherever required. It does not require any specific environment or trained person to perform the test. The accuracy of the machine is as good as real-time PCR.”
Noting its virus detection capability, she said, whichever reagent one develops and puts inside the cartridge the machine can detect viruses or bacteria.
Rachna Tripathi also said that the machine, during its nascent period will be installed in primary healthcare centres, physicians’ clinics and gynaecologists’ clinics.
“Everything including the sensitivity accuracy is equivalent to real-time PCR but the ease of operation is very much like the antigen test. It only takes around 30 minutes to conduct a single test. We are not giving it for house testing or individual testing at present. We are focusing more on primary healthcare centres, physicians’ clinics and gynaecologists’ clinics as we can test for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in this,” she said.
“We can also use these in corporate offices as these days everyone is scared of COVID. We have a panel of different viruses and we can test all the viruses in the office itself and make sure of the kind of infection. It can test any reagent including viruses, bacteria or fungi we put inside the cartridge. It can test for respiratory diseases, cancer, different viruses in the blood or gastrointestinal,” she added.
The Co-founder of Huwel Lifesciences, Dr Shesheer said, “We are launching a new product. This is point-of-care equipment which goes into every nook and corner of the physician’s tables or corporate hospitals. It can go into any place because it’s standalone equipment where you can do a single test with multiple parameters at a time. There would be several use cases of B2B and field testing. It can also be a home testing device in future where you can test everything confirmatory test at home.”
