KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (NNN-Bernama) \u2013 The world has been battling COVID-19 for close to a year now, with more than 200 countries and territories affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Malaysia, the third wave of infections led to total case numbers spiking to over 75,000. Globally, the virus has infected more than 68 million people and caused over 1.5 million fatalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the virus\u2019 highly virulent nature, producing COVID-19 test kits has become a top priority for certain biotechnology companies focusing on research and development (R&D) in Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among them is Vivantis Technologies Sdn Bhd (Vivantis Technologies) which, in collaboration with Bioeconomy Corporation, is expanding its production capacity to become the emerging leading manufacturer of COVID-19 test kits in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incorporated in 2002, Vivantis Technologies is a homegrown research-based biotechnology company that has been awarded BioNexus status by Bioeconomy Corporation for providing integrated solutions for the life-science industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vivantis Technologies specialises in the production of restriction enzymes, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction kits, DNA amplification reagents and other related products for molecular biology research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RT-PCR TEST KIT PROTOTYPE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vivantis Technologies founder and chief executive officer Law Eng Lim said the company, which has a portfolio of start-up ventures, recently developed two prototypes of locally-made polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 test kits, namely Vivantis GF-1 Viral Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit (Mini Prep Kit) and Vivantis Viprime Plus 2019-nCOV Multiplex RT-qPCR Kit (Master Mix).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mini Prep Kit allows rapid and efficient purification of viral DNA or ribonucleic acid (RNA) from samples such as serum, plasma, body fluid, virus-infected cell culture supernatant and viral transport media buffers consisting of virus-infected swabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Master Mix is a ready-to-use solution with all necessary components (primer, probe and master mix) in a single mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis (Master Mix) is an innovative handheld portable device that is fast, simple (to use) and cheap,\u201d Law told Bernama in an interview here recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the Master Mix test kit has 99.9 percent sensitivity and specificity and has been validated by local and international laboratories and universities, including Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and the Medical Molecular Biology Institute at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also have done the validation (for our test kits) in spin-off laboratories from the Institute of Pasteur in France and also in some countries where we have dealers for our products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDistributors who wish to sell our products must first get them validated by their respective countries. After the testing is done, they would send us the validation results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VIVANTIS TECHNOLOGIES \u2013 THE UNSUNG HERO OF COVID-19 FRONTLINE WORKERS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law said after the COVID-19 outbreak was first detected in Malaysia, Vivantis Technologies, which operates through three laboratories in Selangor, had to ramp up their production in order to help the Ministry of Health (MOH) with its testing efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen Malaysia reported its first few COVID-19 cases (in January), our labs were stretched to their limit in producing a test kit that is designed based on the recommended protocols posted by the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe really had to ramp up our production\u2026 actually, we were also part of the frontliners that people don\u2019t see as we were also involved in the fight against COVID-19. My people were forced to work extra hours and rushed to produce the test kits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company is also working closely with the Medical Molecular Biology Institute which is conducting COVID-19 swab tests using Vivantis Technologies\u2019 test kits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law, however, said the company is facing two major challenges in producing the COVID-19 test kits, namely procuring raw materials and manpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe hope to work together with MOH so that our test kits can be supplied to every healthcare facility under the ministry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SUPPLYING TO OTHER COUNTRIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With over 15 years of experience in the biotech sector, Vivantis Technologies has been capitalising on its technological know-how and best practices to produce the COVID-19 test kits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Global demand for COVID-19 test kits is likely to surge in the coming days as the number of new cases rises steeply worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Law, Vivantis Technolgies is now prepared to supply the kits to Southeast Asian countries, as well as India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are a small company and we want to be able to sell our test kits to other countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and other developing countries. With that, Malaysia can play a role as a test kit supplier,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To meet the demand for its test kits, the company had to increase its production capacity to make up to five to seven million kits a month, thus turning Vivantis Technologies into one of the largest COVID-19 test kit manufacturers in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law also revealed that his company has submitted an application to the United States Food and Drug Administration seeking its approval to distribute and market their test kits in that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vivantis Technologies has also received tremendous support from organisations such as Malaysia Productivity Corporation-Chemical Productivity Nexus (MPC-CPN), a government body that is committed to improving the productivity of the chemicals and chemical products subsectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MPC-CPN has recognised the work done by Vivantis Technologies which can significantly influence other local enterprises to systematically address the barriers that prohibit them from moving towards high value-added segments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law said Bioeconomy Corporation also assisted Vivantis Technologies to seek the approval of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to allow their operations to run during the Movement Control Order period earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CHANGES IN COVID-19 TESTING IN THE FUTURE <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law, meanwhile, said COVID-19 test developers all over the world are now racing to produce next-stage technologies that could allow rapid and widespread testing to be carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a multi-billion dollar business and everyone is racing to come out with the COVID-19 test kits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the near future, there may be changes in terms of the method of using the COVID-19 test kits, he said, adding that Vivantis Technologies\u2019 R&D team is working hard to improve the test kits in two areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur dedicated R&D team recently developed an application note that suggests the use of this test kit in extracting nucleic acid from saliva samples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also plan to develop a semi-automation system for extraction of the viral sample. This means, in the future, it need not be done manually but pretty much by a machine. This will reduce the risk of infection and increase the consistency of the testing performance,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (NNN-Bernama) \u2013 The world has been battling COVID-19 for close to a year now, with more than 200 countries and territories affected by the pandemic. In Malaysia, the third wave of infections led to total case numbers spiking to over 75,000. Globally, the virus has infected more than 68 million people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":102477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,198,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105141"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}