Japanese precision chemistry firm Fujifilm Corp. will make novel coronavirus antigen testing kits in Vietnam for global markets by expanding its local production facilities.

Fujifilm will invest an undisclosed amount in Fujifilm Yuwa Medical Products Vietnam Co., a joint venture producing diagnostic agents, in stages starting in the next fiscal year to build a monthly production capacity of 2 million testing kits, an official of the Tokyo-based company said Thursday. A date for the start of production there has yet to be decided.

With its own technology used in the photo printing process, the kits can quickly and easily detect the novel coronavirus antigens. In Japan, Fujifilm plans to produce the kits at its plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, as it has applied for manufacturing and marketing approval to the state's examining authority, the company said in a statement.

Fujifilm Yuwa Medical Products was established in May in Binh Duong Province, southern Vietnam, with Fujifilm owning 51 percent and Yuwa Co., a molding maker based in Nagano Prefecture, 49 percent and started producing diagnostic drugs in November, according to the statement.

In antigen tests, doctors insert swabs into a patient's nostril and put nasal discharge on a testing kit plate to get the result on site. Despite its lower accuracy than the currently dominant polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, the quick and easy method is expected to be used in airports and event venues as well as hospitals, with demand likely to grow. (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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