Contract research and manufacturing services company Syngene International Ltd. said on Friday that it has joined a global consortium of 19 organisations from the healthcare industry to help accelerate various aspects of Covid-19 testing, ranging from research to clinical diagnostic applications.

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Led by global biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, the consortium brings together a diverse group of companies with synergistic areas of expertise, including precision medicine, diagnostics, occupational health, pharmaceuticals and clinical testing laboratories, to help provide clarity and potential solutions to Covid-19 testing challenges.

"The world of medical science is benefitting enormously by sharing information about this coronavirus and we welcome the opportunity to contribute," Mahesh Bhalgat, Chief Operating Officer at Syngene, said in a statement.

To advance the goals of the consortium, members may share relevant expertise, materials and experiences to accelerate understanding of the disease and analyse available scientific and health data, materials and information to develop, improve and deploy current assays and new approaches for the Covid-19 testing paradigm.

They may also share knowledge gained from the collaborative research by publishing work that will inform the scientific community and general public of the consortium`s findings.

"We fully support the aims of the consortium and look forward to sharing our experience and expertise from the last six months including conducting testing of our staff, producing proteins, antibodies and oligonucleotides for diagnostic kits, and operating one of the largest RT-PCR testing private laboratories in Karnataka," Bhalgat said.

Syngene said that since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been actively contributing its scientific expertise and resources in the fight against the virus.

It has also collaborated with the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) to deliver a high throughput next generation sequencing (NGS)-based genomic screening assay that can test 5,000-10,000 samples simultaneously.

"To uncover innovative ways to improve Covid-19 testing quickly during this global pandemic, it`s critical that we break down silos and bring together researchers from different organizations with complementary areas of expertise," Saurabh Saha, Senior Vice President, Translational Medicine, Bristol Myers Squibb, said in a statement.