Azooka Labs, a startup incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), launched mWRAPR, India's first indegenous Biological Transport and storage Medium for Research Use, focused on Genomic Sequencing Labs, Biobanks, and Research labs handling biological samples for molecular analysis.
Azooka's mWRAPR helps in preserving genetic content in all types of biological samples including, microbiomes, Saliva, Cells, Tissues, Blood, Body Fluids, and Fecal tubes. It is the only Molecular Transport Medium to be manufactured in India, that competes with sample stabilization and transporting media, such as Paxgene from Qiagen, RNALater from Thermofisher, Zymo Sample Collection Kits, UTM from BD Biosciences.
About the launch Prof, B Gurumurthy, CEO, SID said, "With a Global Supply chain crunch limiting accessibility to materials for molecular diagnostics, especially in the area if research, There is now an increasing need for India to be able to domestically manufacture them. While most high-quality storage/transport media for biological samples in India are manufactured abroad, we are proud to say that home-grown Azooka Labs is stepping in to fill in that gap, and meet the demand."
"India needs to move to molecular tests (PCR/RT PCR Test) but the sample collection kits out currently are not molecular grade. They generally tend to be cheap nutrient-based media with significant potential for contamination. RNA WRAPR is the kind of Molecular grade sample collection medium that India needs right now," said Alex Paul, Co-founder and CEO, Azooka Labs.
With the market deployment of the COVID-19 Diagnostic Series and Research Use Only product series, iLabKart Technologies will be its Authorized Partner for the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Azooka is expanding its partner network across the APAC regions and rolling out easy payment options via Credit Card or UPI. As an Azooka Distributor for the past year, iLabKart Technologies will be clocking One Million Units of Azooka products by Q1, 2022.
As the sales partner of Azooka, iLabkart has sold more than 7 lakh units of RNA WRAPR to RV Metropolis Labs.
"We are proud to be associated with Azooka and we look forward to reaching out to each and every lab, hospital and institute with this world-class product," said Prakash Dhirwani, CEO, iLabkart Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
After the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Azooka's RNA WRAPR received an incubation-to-market bridge funding from Honeywell and Citigroup to develop a contamination-free COVID-19 Viral Transport Medium that can be stored at Room Temperature for upto a week.
RNA WRAPR is an ICMR validated Viral Transport Medium with One Million Units deployed, without any sample contamination reports or returns as on January 20, 2022. RNA WRAPR has been used in RV Metropolis Labs, Shankara Cancer Research Center, Lotus Diagnostics Labs and MS Ramaiah Hospitals. Azooka is gearing up for FDA EUA and WHO EUL for RNA WRAPR to target the global market. They are onboarding Distribution partners from the APAC regions now.
Azooka is a patented fluorophore company focused on developing safe biotech consumables at a price affordable for all countries across the globe. They are based in Bengaluru, India with an R&D unit at the Indian Institute of Science and manufacturing facility in Peenya Industrial Area, Karnataka. Azooka was recently awarded the 'Best Women-Led Enterprise' at StartUp India 2020. Azooka is open for licensing and partnerships worldwide.
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( With inputs from ANI )
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