IISc startup PathShodh gets regulatory approvals for COVID-19 Test


IISc startup PathShodh gets regulatory approvals for COVID-19 Test

PathShodh has received the license to manufacture the test for sale from the CDSCO, after due diligence validation at the Translational Health Science and THSTI, Faridabad, as per the requirements of the ICMR.

PathShodh Healthcare, a startup incubated at the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has announced a significant breakthrough in developing a first-of-its-kind, semi-quantitative electrochemical ELISA test for COVID-19 IgM and IgG antibodies.

The startup has received the license to manufacture the test for sale from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), after due diligence validation at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, as per the requirements of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

According to Vinay Kumar, CEO and co-founder of PathShodh,

“This novel technology can detect COVID-19 antibodies all the way down to the nanomolar concentration. It can work with venous or capillary (finger-prick) whole blood sample as well as serum sample. We plan to deploy the product in the market in the next couple of weeks. PathShodh’s current production capacity is about one lakh tests per month, and we can scale this up further by augmenting the manufacturing infrastructure.

According to the startup, this test has been developed leveraging PathShodh’s Lab-on-Palm platform “anuPathTM”, which interfaces with disposable test strips functionalized with an immunoreceptor specific to COVID-19 antibodies.

The results are automatically displayed by the handheld reader. Hence there are no subjective errors due to manual readout of test results, as in the current lateral flow assay test kits, claims the startup.

Other features of this technology include on-board memory to store more than one lakh real-time test results, touch screen display, rechargeable battery, Bluetooth connectivity to smartphone and cloud storage, capabilities to map the patient data to Aadhar number and the possibility of connecting test data through APIs to Aarogya Setu.

“The capability to quantify the COVID-19 antibody concentration will be crucial in estimating the declining antibody response over time and hence its possible impact on immunity against recurrence of infection. On a related note, this technique will also play a very big role in elucidating seroconversion response to COVID-19 vaccines, and thereby play a supporting role in vaccination programmes in the future,” says Navakanta Bhat, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Professor, Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc, who is also the co-founder of PathShodh Healthcare.

The funds for developing and commercialising this technology were provided by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under its initiative on Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH).

The technology development was also supported by SINE at IIT Bombay and IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad. The Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at IISc provided the seed funding for this development.

HealthifyMe acqui-hires Under45, launches vaccination slot bookings

HealthifyMe has acqui-hired the team of Under45 to supercharge efforts on its vaccination slot booking initiative.

Health-tech startup HealthifyMe on Tuesday said it had acqui-hired the team of Under45 that gained popularity for helping people find slots for COVID vaccination.

With this, HealthifyMe has also opened vaccine slot bookings on its app and website, HealthifyMe.com.

“Now, one can also book their slots directly from HealthifyMe, which has registered itself as an Application Service Provider (ASP) with CoWin. To supercharge efforts on its vaccination slot booking initiative, HealthifyMe has also acqui-hired the Under45 team,” a statement said.
The company had earlier launched Vaccinateme.in in 10 languages, which helped over eigt million people to search for slots and get notified as soon as they became available.

Developed by Chennai-based techie, Berty Thomas, the Under45 platform sends vaccination slot alerts to users opting for the service via the Telegram messaging app.

The platform provides live vaccination alerts to its 4.1 million subscribers via its over 670 channels on Telegram.

Thomas joins HealthifyMe as an Associate Director and will work with Manan Chandan, Senior Director at HealthifyMe, and the Project Lead of VaccinateMe, the statement said.

Along with him, Suchdeep Juneja (who developed mhVaccineTracker) and Chandraaditya Putuveru (who launched the Twitter bot – BloreVaccine) have also come onboard, it added.

“Together, they will act as catalysts in the company’s efforts to fast-track vaccination slot bookings for millions of Indians. The initiative will continue to run free of cost,” the statement said.

Together, VaccinateMe.in, Under45.in, BloreVaccine, and mhVaccineTracker have helped over 12 million people to find vaccination slots so far, and have sent over 100 million alerts via SMS, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

About 35 percent of those who have received the alerts claim to have actually found a vaccine via these alerts according to surveys the company has run.

Mission Vaccinate India

HealthifyMe has already pledged $ 1 million to support this initiative and will invest more, as and when needed.

“Getting everyone vaccinated is critical for India to become healthier and fitter and I am excited to have Berty and team join our mission… We are now taking it to the next logical level by jointly launching a solution that will help millions of Indians book their slots directly on the HealthifyMe app and website,” Tushar Vashist, co-founder and CEO of HealthifyMe, said.

Berty Thomas said Under45 and HealthifyMe have been the pioneers in the vaccination slot alert systems in the country.

“…”under45.in” and Vaccinateme.in combined is a massive opportunity that we are excited to pursue which would also go a long way in strengthening India’s vaccination efforts,” Thomas added.

Tech Mahindra joins hands with StaTwig for blockchain-based traceability solution for vaccine supply chain

Tech Mahindra and StaTwig aim to roll out a blockchain-based traceability solution for global vaccine supply chain transparency, including problems related to expired vaccines, stock-outs, and counterfeiting.

IT major Tech Mahindra on Monday said it had partnered with StaTwig, a Singapore and Hyderabad-based digital supply chain solution provider, to implement vaccine traceability platform ‘VaccineLedger’ globally.

The companies aim to roll out a blockchain-based traceability solution for global vaccine supply chain transparency, and to predict and prevent failures in supply chains, including problems related to expired vaccines, stock-outs, and counterfeiting, a statement said.

VaccineLedger is an open-source platform designed to perform end-to-end traceability at vial level for vaccines in the global supply chain. It prevents the need of replacing the existing system, therefore, removing the barriers of adoption.
It can easily integrate with existing systems and show immediate results in the countries where it is deployed.

Through this partnership, Tech Mahindra and StaTwig will work towards building a global consortium of vaccine researchers, governments, pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and healthcare workers, the statement said.

StaTwig will leverage Tech Mahindra’s go-to-market expertise, including access to sales and customer network, domain experience, balance sheet support, resource scale, and system integration knowledge.

Further, Tech Mahindra has also invested in co-development and testing of various enterprise security modules for the mobile and web application, to support the unique requirements from manufacturers and state governments.

“Wastage of life-saving drugs such as vaccines should be addressed on priority and we need to come together in order to effectively find a solution here

“Our strategic partnership with StaTwig will enable supply chain participants with a single application to enhance traceability, and chain of custody,” Tech Mahindra Blockchain and Cybersecurity Practice Leader – APAC and EMEA Rajesh Dhuddu said.

This will not only ensure safety and validity of vaccine supply but also helps in adherence to complex regulatory requirements, set up by Drug Administration Authority in any country, he added.

Beyond track and trace

A blockchain-based application builds peer-to-peer bridges on current systems that support real-time data sharing, authentication, and validation. Vaccine manufacturers can use such data beyond track and trace to inventory management, vendor payments, IoT integration, and smart contract.

“With VaccineLedger, we are aiming to re-design and re-engineer the traditional supply chain information systems to give continuous visibility and complete traceability.

“With VaccineLedger, we are aiming to re-design and re-engineer the traditional supply chain information systems to give continuous visibility and complete traceability.
“With the help of VaccineLedger, vaccine manufacturers and governments can work together to prevent counterfeiting, cold-chain failures and stock-outs,” Sid Chakravarthy, Founder and CEO of StaTwig, said.

“With the help of VaccineLedger, vaccine manufacturers and governments can work together to prevent counterfeiting, cold-chain failures and stock-outs,” Sid Chakravarthy, Founder and CEO of StaTwig, said.

Unlock 3.0: Religious places, malls open; transport back to full capacity in Karnataka

The new guidelines that were announced by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday, have come into effect from 6 AM on July 5 and will be in force up to 6 AM on July 19.

With the Karnataka government further easing restrictions under “Unlock 3.0” effective from Monday, life seems to have returned to normalcy as shops, restaurants, malls, private offices and religious places began their operations in full swing.

Also, all public transport- buses and metro- will be operating up to its seating capacity.

These services will be available for the public till 9 PM, as the government is imposing night curfew till 5 AM.
With the government allowing places of worship to open only for darshan, people, though fewer in number, are seen visiting temples following COVID precautionary measures at several places in the city.

Similar reports are emerging from across the state.

As offices and business establishments have been allowed to function at full working strength, traffic congestion was seen on streets in Bengaluru and other cities with office-goers getting back to work.

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has said that bus services will be operated between 5 AM and 9 PM with all precautionary measures, and 4,500 buses will operate in the city and suburban area.

The corporation said based on passenger volume, services will be increased.

Officials were seen ensuring that there is no overcrowding in buses and passengers don’t travel by standing.

Bengaluru Metro has said Metros will operate from 7 AM to 8 PM from Monday to Friday, with frequency of 5-15 minutes in peak and non-peak hours, and on Saturday, Sunday and general holidays, it will be with increased or decreased frequency, depending on the situation.

Customers were seen in good numbers at hotels and restaurants across the city. Also, bars will be open from Monday, but pubs will not.

The new guidelines that were announced by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday, have come into effect from 6 AM on July 5 and will be in force up to 6 AM on July 19.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has said that a total of 54 special teams comprising Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) marshals and city police personnel will be deployed across the city to impose fines and register cases on individuals and commercial establishments that violate COVID-19 norms

“I urge everyone to strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour for our own safety. Remember, the cases have decreased, but the virus is still around,” he has tweeted.

In the guidelines, all shops, restaurants, malls, private offices and closed places have been asked to strictly enforce Covid appropriate behaviour, failing which action will be initiated under the Disaster Management Act 2005.

While marriages and family functions are permitted to be conducted involving not more than 100 people and strictly adhering to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and prevailing guidelines, cremation and funerals to be allowed with maximum of 20 people.

While night curfew will continue between 9 PM and 5 AM, the weekend curfew has been lifted.

Theatres, cinema halls and pubs will remain closed, while swimming pools, sports complexes and stadia are permitted for competitive training and practice purposes by strictly adhering to COVID appropriate behaviour.

All social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions, other gatherings and large congregations, continue to be prohibited.

Source:https://yourstory.com/2021/05/iisc-startup-pathshodh-gets-regulatory-approvals-covid19-test/amp