Interchem, a pharmaceutical company based in Odessa, has bought equipment for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for the virus laboratory of the Odessa Regional Laboratory Center of the Health Ministry of Ukraine.

The Director General of Interchem, Anatoliy Reder, told Interfax-Ukraine that this equipment was the first system in the regional laboratory, which makes it possible to perform PCR testing of the COVID-19 infection.

“Until today, in Odessa region there was not a single device on which it was possible to perform such a PCR test. Odessa region was not able to perform such tests on its own, the virus laboratory of the state-owned institution Odessa Regional Laboratory Center of the Health Ministry of Ukraine was forced to act as a logistician: to collect biomaterial from the centers where it was taken, and then send it to Kyiv. Thus, the results were only on the fifth day. This is what we must avoid, as if we are forced to wait five days for a response from the laboratory, all other methods of fighting the virus are becoming meaningless,” he said. Reder said that the system for PCR testing has already been installed and began to work.

In addition, Interchem purchased the first batch of tests for this system.
“We hope that the PCR tests, which are procured centrally, will also come to Odessa region. As world experience shows, those countries in which it was possible to achieve a high level of coverage of population with testing and diagnostics demonstrate the lowest results in mortality and the spread of infection,” Reder said. He also said that the purchased PCR testing system will be in demand after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interchem is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of Ukraine.