The official launch of the DIVA Diagnostic Kit for Foot and Mouth Disease took place recently in the presence of Dr KML Pathak, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR. The kits have been manufactured by private partner, Arsh Biotech with the know-how transferred by Project Directorate on Foot and Mouth Disease (PDFMD), Mukteswar.

Dr Pathak said "this is the best demonstration of "Make in India" initiative and the partnership has set a stage for industries and technology developers to exchange skills and knowledge and create business opportunities in animal health sector.

The Challenge
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a major livestock disease of transboundary importance, affecting cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, pigs, goats and sheep. It is estimated that the annual direct economic loss due to FMD in India is around Rs. 20,000 crores. Therefore, development of rapid and precise diagnostics facilitating DIVA would be valuable in the sero-surveillance of FMD when active immunization is ongoing.

Approach
Agrinnovate India worked collaboratively with the Private Partner and the Research Institute, PDFMD to fully define and fulfil the requirements of client. The plan involved the training of personnel from the private partner at PDMFD, Mukteswar on the production of FMD reagent kits and associated quality assurance (QA) procedures, and testing and formulation of safe operating procedures (SOPs).

Result
The Public Private Partnership (PPP) has resulted in the on-time launch of improved kits that contain all the necessary ready to use reagents for detecting Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMDV) which is compact and convenient and have commercial documentation for best user experience.