KUALA LUMPUR: TWL Holdings Bhd (TWL) has entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Tatra Investment LLC to penetrate the healthcare sector in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

The agreement will be executed through a joint venture company, Tatra TWL Medicare Sdn Bhd (Tatra TWL Medicare), of which TWL owns 50 per cent.

The collaboration involves the procurement, import, supply, distribution, research, development, production and commercialisation of medical, pharmaceutical and other healthcare-related products in Malaysia and South East Asia.

TWL managing director Shirley Tan Lee Chin said the first phase of the collaboration would focus on the Oxsed RaVid Direct SARS-CoV-2 Test and Circle Healthpod (RT-Lamp) product which uses reverse transcript loop-meditated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) technology as the Covid-19 detection key test tool.

Tan said this was developed jointly by a Hong Kong-based company Prenetics Ltd and a leading research company, Oxsed, based at Oxford University, United Kingdom (UK).

"The RT-Lamp test has been approved by the Malaysian Device Authority (MDA) to replace the existing RT-PCR test as the primary test tool for Covid-19 detection in Malaysia.

"Currently, it is already being used at Heathrow Airport, UK, Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore International Airport via their respective travel facility and laboratory," she said in a statement today.

Tatra Investment is an investment holding company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that is part of the prominent Al-Ghurair family, who founded the Al Ghurair Group with diverse operations globally in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and North America.

Tatra Investment will also invest in the Global Medical City in Terengganu Ecocycle Park to develop a Malaysia-UAE-China diagnosis, assessment, prevention and treatment centre.

The centre will focus on biomolecular diagnostic and natural drugs (non-chemical) for the Southeast Asian market with a forecast turnover of circa US$8 billion.

According to TWL, one of the main benefits of using the RT-Lamp technology is that the result is fast at between 15 minutes to 30 minutes compared to RT-PCR technology, which is between four to six hours.

In addition, the virus detection process is also flexible with RT-Lamp as it could be done without a laboratory.

The efficient cost of the product at below RM90 also makes it commercially viable to be implemented across different airports as part of the international travel process.

Aside from the first phase initiative, TWL and Tatra Investment will also focus on other medical and health products to diagnose patients with cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, and others.