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Mönchengladbach (dpa / lnw) - After selling more than 120 million fabric masks, the shirt manufacturer van Laack wants to bring another pandemic product onto the market.

As an importer, you get corona self-tests from the manufacturer Lepu Medical in China, said company boss Christian von Daniels in Mönchengladbach.

There are currently four million tests in stock, with six million to be added by the end of the month.

From April 20 million tests per month are to be delivered.

Van Laack wants to offer the product, which is intended for medical laypeople, in its shops, but above all wants to sell it on to companies and retailers so that it can reach the end customer there.

Numerous companies are already cavorting in this market segment, and there is high demand from the population.

The drugstore chain dm wants to sell rapid tests from the manufacturer Boson on Friday, and Rossmann also wants to do the same soon.

Lidl has already started selling boson tests, albeit in small quantities - they sold out online just as quickly as a preparation from the Rhineland-Palatinate biotechnology company Aesku Diagnostics in Aldi branches.

But supplies should be on the way.

Van Laack's entry makes it clear that there is movement in the market segment and that the current shortage could soon be history.

During the import, van Laack works with the small trading company Kingline from Erlangen, which among other things sells protective gowns - these are made by van Laack, so the contact for further cooperation came about.

Van Laack takes over the financing, repackaging and distribution of the tests.

The company is still waiting for the green light from the Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).

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Von Daniels pointed out that it was the same test that had been used en masse in Austria since the end of January.

The effectiveness of the preparation is undisputed, it has been tested by the Paul Ehrlich Institute.

With the special approval by the BfArM, the only question is whether the medical device can also be used correctly by consumers - for example, whether the package insert is understandable and precise.

Van Laack is a shirt manufacturer from Mönchengladbach that, according to the Federal Gazette, had 259 employees in Germany in the past fiscal year, which ended in April 2020, and achieved an annual turnover of 56 million euros.

There are also 700 employees in a plant in Tunisia and 400 in a plant in Vietnam.

When the corona crisis began, von Daniels switched production in Vietnam and had mouth and nose protective masks produced - according to the company, more than 120 million of them were sold to retailers.

The shift from the federal and state governments to medical masks - i.e. OP and FFP2 masks - brought this business to a standstill.

With corona self-tests, van Laack is now adding another pandemic product to its range in order to keep sales high.

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Politically, orders from the North Rhine-Westphalian state government to van Laack caused a sensation.

The delivery of millions of protective gowns came about through the mediation of Armin Laschet's (CDU) son, who works as a fashion blogger for van Laack.

Later, a van Laack order for 1.25 million masks for the police was reversed - the order should have been put out to tender and not simply awarded, according to a review.

Van Laack takes part in the new tender again.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210311-99-773148 / 2