Panevėžys, Lithuania, April 24, 2020 – In the global fight against the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of testing for suspected infections is considered paramount. Until now, there has been a lack of possibilities to execute it more efficiently. Realizing the need, the Panevėžys State Hospital and Roquette Amilina, part of the Roquette group, a global leader in plant-based ingredients for food, nutrition and health markets, joined forces – new equipment for testing coronavirus samples have reached the only laboratory in Panevėžys and Utena counties. It is expected that this will help expand the scope of testing and help the state to curb the outbreak faster.
This decision to implement new equipment was managed thanks to the joint efforts of the city hospital and the company Roquette Amilina which operates in Panevėžys, the Ministry of Health, the Municipality of Panevėžys, scientists of Lithuanian biotechnology association and many others.
“Seeing the situation in the world and in Lithuania, where one of the Roquette companies operates, and considering that the pandemic is increasingly affecting employees in the healthcare sector, we decided not to stay out of this. We have started to consider various possible ways we could help and cooperate with our partners,” says Dr. Danas Tvarijonavičius, Chairman of Roquette Amilina Board and Head of Roquette Amilina’s R&D.
According to D. Tvarijonavičius, now more than a month after the start of the pandemic, in these challenging days, effective testing is one of the key strategies in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Based on many years of international experience and knowledge, Roquette Amilina has redesigned part of its laboratory equipment. It is expected that the additional laboratory equipment will lead to a significant increase in the number of the tests carried out.
“We are happy to contribute to this effort, and we have mobilized our teams as soon as possible. Together with other companies and with the Lithuanian scientists, we engaged to evaluate the possibility to increase the testing equipment’s capacity. We are grateful to all who contributed to the implementation of an unbelievably speedy solution. With our know-how, and a strong networking within the country and all over the world, we continue to do our best so that this equipment starts helping as soon as possible,” says D. Tvarijonavičius.
This is not the first project in support of healthcare workers by Roquette. In the Lestrem site in France, process changes have been implemented to produce a hydroalcoholic solution that has been distributed to local hospitals.
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Roquette Amilina is part of the Roquette group.
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