2020-11-24 18:23:13

Ho Wah Genting Berhad contribute to easing the spike of COVID-19

- Test kits to expedite COVID-19 tests within 30 minutes or less

KUALA LUMPUR, 24 November 2020 – HWGB Biotech Sdn Bhd (“HWGB Biotech”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ho Wah Genting Berhad’s (“HWGB” or the “Company”) (Bursa Stock Code:9601) had been appointed by Wenzhou OJA Biotechnology Co. Ltd.’s (“WOJA”), one of the leading companies certified by China’s Ministry of Commerce, as the distributor of its COVID-19 antigen rapid test kit (“OJAbio test kit”) and PCR machines.
 
Following the recent announcement of the approval for the distribution in Malaysia awarded by Ministry of Health on the nucleic acid test kits manufactured by Wuhan Easydiagnosis Biomedicine Co Ltd (“Wuhan Easydiagnosis”), the Company today announced that it had submitted its OJAbio Antigen test kits and PCR Machines to the Medical Device Authority (“MDA”) of the Ministry of Health (“MOH”) for registration purpose. Clearly, HWGB Biotech had not let the grass grow under its feet in securing reliable Covid-19 diagnostic systems in its venture into healthcare business.
 
The OJAbio test kit is a rapid point-of-care cheek swab test using Colloidal Gold Method. One of the major advantages of using antigen test kit is that antigen rapid test offers multiple operational benefits in comparison to reverse transcription of polymerase chain reaction tests for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Antigen rapid tests have been developed as both laboratory-based tests and for near-patient use (point-of-care), and results are usually generated in 10 to 30 minutes after the start of the analysis. Some antigen rapid tests require a laboratory instrument for the analysis, but others do not as the analysis is performed on a handheld cartridge with visual readout. Antigen rapid tests generally offer low-cost testing and relatively simple handling. Due to the timeliness of results, antigen rapid tests can provide added value e.g. in the patient triage process in healthcare settings at admission. In the context of contact tracing, antigen rapid tests can allow for a more rapid identification of infectious contacts.
 
HWGB Biotech Sdn Bhd’s General Manager, Medical & Pharmaceutical Research, Dr. Yaman Walid Kassab, said: “We have forged several key partnerships that  can test kits so that we can answer society’s call for a more effective test kits. We are also looking to further enrich our diagnosis product range for the society, this is to ensure having high accuracy and affordability test kits in the quest to fight against COVID-19.”



Ho Wah Genting Berhad (“HWGB” or the “Company”) is principally engaged in investment holdings and the provision of management services to its subsidiaries. The Company had on 30 June 2020 diversified its existing businesses to include healthcare related industry which mainly involved in health supplement, biotechnology and health technology. In addition, the Company and its subsidiaries (“HWGB Group” or the “Group”) are also engaging in the businesses of investment holdings; manufacturing of wires and cables and moulded power supply cord sets and cable assemblies for electrical and electronic devices and equipment; trading of wires and cables; and travel agent and tour related services.


HWGB Biotech Sdn Bhd, was incorporated on 18 June 2012 under the Companies Act, 1965 under the former name of HWG Consortium Sdn Bhd and changed to its current name on 22 May 2020. HWGB Biotech is principally involved in the distribution of all kinds of biotechnology products, bioinformatics diagnostic tools, all medical engineering equipment along with software developments and tools as well as to patent all original products and by-products, technologies and software developed or sourced by the company.
For more information on about HWGB Biotech, follow us on https://hwgbbiotech.com, http://subscription.hwgbbiotech.com, Facebook, LinkedIn and Telegram to view the latest updates about our company ventures in the healthcare industry.
 
Dr.Yaman Walid Kassab is an assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy. He obtained his PhD in Clinical Pharmacy at University Science Malaysia (USM) in 2013. He possesses 7 years of experience in the academia, specifically in the pharmacotherapy field. He is actively involved in medical research and publication and has published more than 40SCOPUS/ISI indexed research papers and has supervised more than 50 research projects and 20 postgraduate research students. He is also serving as an editorial Board member of several reputed international journals like “Frontiers in Pharmacology”, “Archives of Pharmacy Practice (APP)” , “Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Innovation (JMPI)” , ”Annals of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Diseases” , “Updates in Public Health and Preventive Medicine” He has been a member of many international professional bodies such as International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology in CANADA, Syndicate of Syrian Pharmacists, Malaysian Association of Education in Medicine & Health Sciences, Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society.


Oja Biotechnology Co. Ltd was created in April 2020 as an extension of BIOSIC (A company that specializes in Early Cancer Detection & Disease Diagnostic) to focus on the development of Testing Solutions for the SARS-CoV-2. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the founders and the panel of medical experts had been working and perfecting methods to accurately and efficiently diagnose various diseases and viruses.

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