EMPE Diagnostics to set up facility in city

Hyderabad: EMPE Diagnostics announced the setting up of their global production facility at Genome Valley in Hyderabad with an aim to produce two million Tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic kits per month.

The company will invest around Rs 25 crore and would employ around 25 people in Hyderabad. Currently, EMPE Diagnostics is conducting clinical evaluations in at least five countries for their TB diagnostic kits. The products to be produced in Hyderabad would be sold globally. The company also planned to invest around 50 crore in this facility with additional employment of around 150 people. Over the years, the company is planning to invest around 25 million euros in the facility.

The announcement was made after Minister K T Rama Rao's meeting with EMPE Diagnostics Chief Executive Officer and Founder Pavan Asalapuram at World Economic Forum, Davos. Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Director Lifesciences Shakthi M Nagappan were also present during the meeting.

KTR said, "Tuberculosis is one of the ancient infections and even today, it remains a challenge for the medical world, causing socio-economic burden for countries. I'm delighted to announce the expansion plans of EMPE Diagnostics for Hyderabad. I'm glad to note that Hyderabad will serve as the global production facility for the company."

Pavan Asalapuram said that among the top 30 high TB burden countries, India has most number of TB patients, while Eastern EU countries contain the highest proportion of multidrug resistance patients.

"Even today, two out of three receive incorrect antibiotics and keep spreading drug-resistant TB in the community. Covid-19 has pushed the progress in TB to at least 10 years back. Therefore, detection of TB and treating it with correct antibiotics has become much more important than before. We are so thankful to the Minister KTR and Telangana government for their support, he said.