TWL Holdings to venture into healthcare sector

KUALA LUMPUR: TWL Holdings Bhd has entered into a memorandum of agreement with Tatra Investment LLC to form a strategic collaboration to penetrate into the healthcare sector in Malaysia and South East Asia.

The developer said the joint venture shall be undertaken via a joint-venture company, Tatra TWL Medicare Sdn Bhd, which is 50% owned by TWL and balance by Tatra.

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.

Tatra is part of the prominent Al-Ghurair family, who founded the Al Ghurair Group which has diverse operations globally in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and North America.

“The first phase of the collaboration will focus on the OXSED RaVid Direct SARS-CoV-2 Test and Circle Healthpod (RT-Lamp) product which uses RT-LAMP (Reverse Transcript Loop-Meditated Isothermal Amplification) technology as the COVID-19 detection key test tool. It was developed jointly by a Hong Kong-based company, Prenetics Limited, and leading research company, Oxsed, which is based at Oxford University, United Kingdom,” TWL managing director Shirley Tan Lee Chin said in a statement.

“The RT-LAMP test has been approved by the Malaysian Device Authority (MDA) with an aim 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, United Kingdom, Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore International Airport via their respective travel facility and laboratory,” she said.