KEMRI ‘s Pharma and Diagnostics Strategic Partnership

KEMRI has entered into a strategic partnership with one of the largest local manufacturer of medical diagnostic and pharmaceutical innovations.

The Institute, intimated Ag. Director General, Prof. Elijah Songok, will work with Revital Healthcare Ltd in the mass production of various diagnostic kits and other innovations including rapid diagnostics kits following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations.

Prof. Songok said this during the launch of the Rapid Diagnostics arm of the Kilifi based Kenyan Company. The event that graced by the US envoy, H.E. Meg Whitman, Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Nakhumicha S. Wafula, Kilifi Governor, H.E. Gideon Mung’aro and other key stakeholders in the health fraternity including KEMRI and FIND.

The facility is equipped through a co-funding mechanism between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Revital Healthcare. It will have the capacity to produce 20 million test kits a month among them KEMRI’s flagship test kits that include HIV1/2, Malaria P.f/Pan, HCG, Hepatitis B/C, Dengue, and Syphilis among others.

While addressing the press after the launch, Prof. Songok affirmed the local collaborative initiative which also includes the Kenya Biovax Institute and Revital. This, he said can only boost local supplies of kits that scientists are innovating through Research and Development.

” As KEMRI we do research and innovate diagnostic kits, vaccines and medicines and we have always been looking for a company or facility that will produce them in mass and I believe Revital fits this bill,” said Prof. Songok. On his part, the Revital Healthcare Chairman Rajni Vora stated, “our goal is to ensure that we produce testing technology that is efficient and affordable across the continent, we have expanded to become the largest manufacturer of medical devices on the African continent with a manufacturing capacity of 2.1 billion medical devices per year, including manufacturers of Africa’s 1st USFDA certified and patented auto-disable syringes.”

USAID’s partnership with Revital Healthcare will see the company significantly increase its production volumes which will in turn boost export volumes to Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, South Sudan, and Congo while establishing a commercial presence in Nigeria and Ethiopia through product registration and certification. Revital Healthcare is the first end-to-end manufacturer of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) across Sub-Saharan Africa, with these kits intended to reach a population of over a billion across the continent