Three IIT-B start-ups build smart healthcare products
With healthcare being the fastest growing industry in India’s start-up eco-system, a host of medical technology start-ups have mushroomed within the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). Supported, nurtured and financed by the institute’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, these start-ups are building products and services to make healthcare more accessible and affordable.
Epocare
Founded in December 2016 by Deepak Kumar, Amaldev Venugopal, and Dr Amit Patil, Epocare is working on a host of new affordable diagnostic devices that work with artificial intelligence (AI). These products not only enhance diagnostic capabilities in critical surgeries but also help doctors predict healing outcomes. One such product is the Wound Healing Analysis & Prediction (WHAP) device.
The WHAP is a portable imaging diagnostic device for non-invasive wound assessment. Currently, the start-up is in the product development stage and is conducting clinical studies.
“We plan to provide complete end-to-end surgical wound management. We believe that advances in medical diagnosis with decision-making AI will change the way doctors are interacting with large and complicated devices. It will eventually help in better diagnosis and better patient care,” said Kumar.
Acuradyne Medical Systems
Santosh Noronha and Sushanth Poojary founded Acuradyne Medical Systems in 2017. This start-up is working on technologies to detect cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) at an early stage (before one gets a heart attack).
Their product Precog can help give early-stage indications of cardiovascular diseases using its instant diagnostic test.
“Diagnosing CVDs at an early stage will help doctors prevent the onset of major illnesses and provide appropriate medication,” said Poojary.
Funded primarily by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council of the Department of Biotechnology (GoI), the start-up is currently conducting clinical trials. Acuradyne Medical Systems was awarded the national Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award in 2015. “The current reactive approach followed in the healthcare ecosystem has not been very effective and we believe that the preventive healthcare approach will help drive down the number of deaths,” said Poojary.
Ayudevices
Founded in July 2017, Ayudevices converts conventional stethoscopes into digital ones. The brainchild of Adarsha Kachapilly, Tapas Pandey and Rupesh Ghyar, this start-up makes devices that enable noise filtering, sound amplification, recording and playback, visual representation and analysis of heart and lung sounds.
The device is used to record and transmit heart and lung sounds from a remote location to doctors for telemedicine applications.
“Heart and lung diseases have become the top causes of death in India, and require effective auscultation [listening to chest sounds] for correct diagnosis. Our mission is to enable early detection of heart and lung diseases, potentially saving lives,” said Kachapilly.
Ayudevices has patents in 60 countries and is already producing these devices. “We are generating revenue from orders from telemedicine companies, doctors and the government. Currently, we have received orders for more than 700+ units across India,” said Kachapilly.
