Pvt labs to start genome sequencing in India: Report

The move will help identify newer coronavirus variants

In a bid to speed up genomic testing to identify newer coronavirus variants the government will now join hands with the private sector.

"We have now decided to involve private sector laboratories in this process," a person aware of the development told The Economic Times.

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"The new target is to sequence 80,000 samples in a month. This requires a massive scale up,” they added.

India has sequenced 63,990 samples so far in 2021, according to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). On an average, 7,110 samples are sequenced every month.

Currently, the turnaround time is 10-15 days and the government is trying to bring it down to a week by involving the private sector, which has a genome sequencing turnaround time of four to five days, people aware of the development told the publication.

"If there is a variant of concern or variant of interest circulating, the increased capacity will help in detecting it quickly,” Vidur Mahajan, associate director at Mahajan Imaging, told the publication. Mahajan Imaging is one of the private labs that is reportedly in talks with the government.

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Other private laboratories that ET reported were in talks for genome sequencing are Premas Life Sciences of Delhi, Strands Life Sciences and Genotypic Technology of Bengaluru, NMC Genetics India of Gurugram and Mapmygenome India of Hyderabad.

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