This innovation by the alumni of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, promises to change the availability and affordability of medical tests in the country.
Built by IIT alumni, the kit will be a money saver and reduce costly imports
MUMBAI: Imagine biomedical waste being recycled and used to diagnose diseases in humans. This innovation by the alumni of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, promises to change the availability and affordability of medical tests in the country.
Paresh Bhanushali’s Navi Mumbai-based company Yashraj Biotechnology is using biomedical waste like urine, amniotic fluid, hepatitis positive plasma and umbilical cord serum to develop immuno-diagnostic kits out of them. Last week, Dr MK Bhan, secretary in department of biotechnology, said, “Centre will extend full support to such initiatives”.
Immuno-diagnostic kits contain solutions primarily used to detect infectious diseases like malaria, leptospirosis and dengue. They are also used to detect deadly diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, HIV/AIDS and determine their severity. As there is a lack of production facilities and distribution arrangements in India, these kits are imported at present.
“The idea is that molecules which form essential ingredients in making diagnostic kits are extracted from biological waste,” said Bhanushali. Blood may possess both antigen and antibodies that fight the antigens that can be treated and transformed into useful entities, he explained.
Bhanushali, who had conceptualised the idea, hopes that it will decrease India’s dependence on expensive imported kits, costing anywhere between Rs1,200 to 2,000, whereas indigenously developed kits will cost even less than half of that, he said.
“Since the cost of raw materials is negligible, the prices of kits can definitely be reduced,” added Dr ME Yeolekar, dean of KEM hospital. Besides, the USP of the procedure remains the safe disposal of biological waste, he added. A team collects waste from KEM, Sion, private hospitals and from hospitals in neighbouring states. A four-layer packaging system is followed so that highly infectious waste is not exposed in case of any mishap during transportation.
Ironically, the Indian market is yet to wake up to this innovation. “We have been producing only antigens, so our buyers are mostly multi-national companies,” said Dr Chander Puri, CEO of Yashraj Biotechnology. “A kit should ideally comprise both antigens and antibodies. Within a short span of time, we will start producing antibodies as well, following which we can think of manufacturing the entire kit and selling to Indian buyers,” he added.
Meanwhile, one of the major roadblocks in using biomedical waste are the regulatory agencies and their protocol. “It took us about two years to convince the government about the usage of waste and to sensitise the hospitals,” said Puri. Consumption of biotech products in India is expected to rise to approximately $4,270 million in the next three years.
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