Cheaper, locally produced medical kits can save lives
Though there are numerous innovations based on extensive research in the health sector to save lives, there are some constraints in Sri Lanka as these imported products are out of reach for patients due to the cost.
Four medical academics from the universities of the country – Prof. Ranil Dassanayake, Department of Chemistry, University of Colombo; Prof. (Ms) Nilmini Silva Gunawardene, Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya; Dr. Jagath Weerasena, Institute of Bio-Chemistry, Molecular Biology and BioTechnology, University of Colombo and Prof. Aresha Manamperi, Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya have teamed up to form a corporate entity with the name and style Çeygen Biotech (Pvt) Ltd – a start-up in its truest sense.
The National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka (NSF) under its Technology Grant Scheme has provided funding of around Rs. 10 million for this highly commercially viable venture. To find out how these ‘kits for the extraction of nucleic acids from various biological origins’ are manufactured, Shantha Siri, Scientific Officers NSF, recently accompanied the Business Times (BT) to the 10th Floor, Durdans Hospital where Ceygen maintains its laboratory.
Ceygen is not only a viable commercially oriented business venture, but is a unique life-saving mechanism as the techniques they are now manufacturing could replace the costly imported ones. The product purely science based and the technique called ‘Molecular Diagnosis’ is an effective tool which can be used for accurate diagnosis of viral and infectious diseases among other useful purposes.
Prof. Dassanayake along with Prof. (Ms) Gunawardene and Dr. Weerasena told the BT that treatable and manageable communicable and non-communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, hepatitis B and C, dengue, thalassemia, a variety of leukemia and tumours, cancer, blood disorders and other genetic disorders can be accurately and fast detected by their kits and this accurate and early detection could save lives.
He said that they are a group of senior academics of the university system of Sri Lanka and this is the first time that hightech biotechnology products are developed in Sri Lanka. This technology is one of the hightech fields which can be used to drive the sustainable economic development of any country as this technology has been used by many nations including India, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Cuba, Iran and many other countries, he indicated.
Majority of their products and services, he asserted are focused on the life science sector and Ceygen develops and produces Column-based Nucleic Acid extraction Kits, reagents and has three unique areas: Virology, Microbiology and Oncology.
He indicated that with the Nucleic Acid Technology (NAT) portfolio, they are able to provide a wide array of innovative products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories worldwide. Ceygen’s quality systems, scientific expertise and state-of-the-art facilities support their customers in meeting the stringent requirements of the highly regulated healthcare industry, Prof. Dassanayake said.
He said that they floated the company in 2006 and so far have invested Rs. 400 million. The company has been involved in extensive research since 2012 and producing ‘Kits’ and recombinant proteins which are cheap because they are locally produced and thus the poor can also afford the services.
He said that if these ‘Kits’ had to be imported by the Government, it would have to spend around Rs. 210 million while their products are three to four times cheaper. They are not rushing into mass production of ‘Kits’ but slowly moving forward maintaining the highest quality. Prof. (Ms) Gunawardene said that they are getting the services of several Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduates and postgraduates who are doing their MSc and PhD.
Dr. (Ms) Thamara F Dias, Director General, NSF giving reasons as to why they considered allotting funds to this company, indicated that communicable and non-communicable diseases takes a significant toll on the population, is a huge burden to the economy and misdiagnosis and wrong treatment not only increases cost of treatment but also leads to increased mortality.
She pointed out that molecular diagnosis is an effective tool which can be used for accurate diagnosis of diseases and the local production of these ‘Kits’ reduces the limitations for use due to high cost of imported test kits and reagents.
She said that Ceygen is a startup in the field of Biotechnology that took the initiative with a grant of the NSF to manufacture genomic DNA extraction kits, viral RNA extraction kits and recombinant enzymes locally with a five-fold cost reduction than imported ones, thus enabling patients to access effective diagnostic techniques at an affordable cost.