HLL to manufacture easy fertility test kit

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two years from now, fertility testing will no longer be a complicated, invasive or tedious process. HLL Lifecare will be launching a new fertility kit that will determine fertility levels from urine tests.The technology was developed by M I Khatkatay and Meena Desai of the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) and the technology was transferred to Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), a technical arm of the Department of Biotechnology.The urine-based fertility kit measures two key reproductive hormones such as the follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone and their two metabolites such as estrogen glucoronide and pregnanediol glucoronide. “While earlier tests were done with blood and invasive, this is not at all invasive. But the tests will have to be conducted at a lab though,’’ said HLL scientist Abi Santhosh Aprem.Recently, a tripartite technology transfer agreement was signed at the headquarters of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Delhi.