Dr. Pavan Varma co-founded Biotech start-ups in Varanasi and New Delhi. He has business experience in molecular diagnostics, genomics, contract research, and product development. He has conducted several Biotech workshops and training sessions for science graduates in Varanasi and also established several in-house panels for rare genetic disorders, cancers, and infectious agents along with design and development of low-cost DNA tools.

On a day of plunging temperature at Reykjavik airport in Iceland almost thirteen years ago, a few journalists, while briskly walking on the tarmac to embark on a special aircraft, were impatient to find out exact definition of Nanoparticles.

They were expecting this midair query from the scientist turned President APJ Kalam with whom they were flying on the state visit to a few nations including big bang experiment site at CERN laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.

Dr. Kalam, during onboard freewheeling interactions with accompanying media contingent used to ask several simple questions while giving an elaborative narrative of complex scientific issues in common man language. His narration on Nanoparticles usage in health care discipline was always a gripping one.

Coincidently, on a day of soaring temperature in the same month 13 years after, another Scientist Dr. Amit Kumar Dinda was batting coolly on the subject in a lecture hall of Jamia Millia Islamia Central University in the national capital and was giving an absorbing narrative on Nanoparticles. His chronicle was equally informative and exciting.

For me, it was an instant revival of flashback memories of Nanoparticles and developments in India and Dr. Kalam’s vision of Nanoparticles researches and its usage in various disciplines.

The mega dissertation on the Nano theme by Dr. Dinda from AIIMS, New Delhi was equally engrossing. He was speaking at the Third IC (InnovatioCuris) meeting which had a talk regarding Nanotechnology and its commercial impact.

The talk highlighted the significance of Nanotechnology as a future driver of innovations and useful economy. He further exemplified with his own contributions to the field including nanoparticulate ambisomes against Kala-azar, nano formulation based HBV vaccine for oral delivery, nanoformulations against leishmaniasis.

The focus of the IC club meeting was about Biotechnology future innovation, Funding scenario and Start-ups. It was for the first time that the IC club meeting was organized in a university to encourage participation of academia.

Dr. Dinda has equally cautioned the pitfalls in Nano research and product development, which was very elucidative and useful for the present members and students. His experience with Nanoscience made him realise the importance of collaborative approach, as it is a highly inter-disciplinary science.

Nanotechnology is very liberative and robust in the sense that it offers low cost, and viable and scalable technology, the sort of which is need of the hour in India. Also given the reason that it has been practised in India in Ayurveda, gives a point of leveraging for existing vedic processes. The impacted areas range from health, environment, water purification, therapeutics, organ regeneration, to such hi-fi technologies like nanotised robots for vivo monitoring.

Dr. Dinda, also stressed on the importance of quality human resource and specially a dedicated one. He has given several examples of his experience abroad during his residency, where he was member of several failure commitees, and stressed on the importance of reasoning a failure.

The other talk in the meeting was given by Dr. Pavan from Scangene Labs, a first generation entrepreneur in the biotechnology domain with focus on low cost diagnostics. He shared his experience of establishing his start-up and his companies plan A and plan B. His team was instrumental in developing several panels for diagnosis of cancer markers and rare genetic disorders. They developed low cost equipment and devices for use in reserach setups and educational institutes.

Dr. Pavan have showcased their research into development of a low cost TB resistance screening devise and claimed to make it a less than one dollar possibility. They stressed the importance of having a plan A and plan B for survival in the Biotech Start-up landscape. They concluded saying India needs more PADMAN’s in Biotechnology.

The general mood of the meeting was regarding the buzz in the policy shift towards biological sector by the Government of India. Several important observations were shared by the clubites in this regard, like the present call for grand challenges focussed towards synthetic biology, the present heads of scientific bodies being decorated by emineries from biology background, etc. The other significant dialogue in the meeting was regarding focus on low cost technology, and the importance of quality certification and /or recognition by regulatory bodies.

Informatively, with the commitment to giving an encouraging platform to innovators and aspiring startups, InnovatioCuris (IC) was created as a knowledge-based platform to exchange best practices of healthcare innovations across the globe by conducting international conferences, and extending the same message in internationally-acclaimed, quarterly magazine named “InnoHEALTH”, complimentary webinars and training.

The club brings innovators, investors, start-ups, technology persons, policymakers, health experts and legal advisers under one large umbrella to be members and hold hands by sharing success stories and challenges and to incubate their ideas to take the dream and vision of India forward. It has a very strong band of advisers to support the activity of club and mentor projects. The aim is to bring down healthcare delivery cost yet maintain quality through innovations. IC has an outreach of 30,000 people globally to share its activities.

Dr. Amit Kumar Dinda MD, PhD is a Professor of Department of Pathology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. After his post graduation in Pathology he did his PhD in the area of Cancer Biology at the same institute. His area of work includes Immunopathology, Inflammation and cell biology, Experimental pathology, Ultrastructural pathology, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine. In the area of Nanomedicine, he is actively involved in several projects related to nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery, antigen and DNA delivery system. Dr. Amit is working in the area of nano-cell biology to understand nanoparticle and cellular interaction. He is in the editorial committee of 12 national & international journals. He has worked as a Visiting Professor in Long Island Jews Medical Center & Elbert Einstein Medical College, New York, USA as well as University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Dr. Amit has published more than 200 research articles in indexed journals and edited 4 books. He has written 14 chapters in books and acquired 3 patents in the areas of nanotechnology and biopolymer.

The other interesting discussion was for the need of an ecosystem for development of tools and devices for Biotechnology.

PowerDot works via a mobile app that uses Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) to activate your muscle fibers, get your body’s lymphatic system flowing and increase the blood flow to targeted areas. Basically, it gets you moving. The result is the creation of a perfect environment for the body to recover faster, feel better and overall well-being. It also allows you to control your workout. An impulse is sent to the pods based on the muscle group you select to target which causes the muscles to activate. The feeling that it creates can be intense and bizarre at first, but you will get used to it in a few uses. It is also compact enough to carry on a holiday or trip and is available from £275 at PowerDot.

The chatbot tracks user’s activity, sleep, calories and fitness data to help them reach their goals with continuous reminders, insights, and motivation. The VISIT offers paid online consultation, through video and voice channels and seven days of free follow-up check-up over text chat. The service also maintains a pool of MBBS doctors who through its ‘Q’ service offer free health advice by text. The pool of 2200 doctors includes psychologists, dieticians, dermatologists, sexologists, gynecologists, preventive cardiology and pediatricians besides general physicians.

3. Snore Circle

A China-based firm VVFLY Electronics has developed a smart anti-snoring eye mask called Snore Circle priced at nearly INR 9700. Snore Circle is a smart wearable sleeping mask that comes with a little module that uses sound detection and bone conduction to identify when one is snoring. Once that is done, it sends out little vibrations to trick one’s brain into tightening one’s throat muscles. Once the throat muscles are tightened, snoring should subside. The vibrations on the Snore Circle adjust to your snoring level and are tuned well enough so that they don’t get so strong that people just end up waking up instead they are just enough to alter your throat muscles. The mask has an 80 mAh battery and can detect snoring by giving out vibrations at 36 levels. It allows the users to monitor and analyze their snoring, its intensity and decibel level along with sleeping data through its Snore Circle App.

4. Zipline: World’s Fastest Commercial Delivery Drone

US-based start-up Zipline has developed a drone that can deliver urgent medicines, blood and vaccines mid-flight. Hospitals can text orders to Zipline for the required products, which are packed at its centers and then launched aboard the drone that races along at over 100kmph. The autonomous drone then drops the package via parachute at the designated area. Zipline improves access to these supplies by flying over impassable mountains and washed-out roads, delivering directly to remote clinics. The supplies are centralized and provide on-demand deliveries, completely reducing waste and stock-outs. Zipline provides a seamless delivery system at an affordable price, obsessing over every

detail so that healthcare providers can solely focus on patient health. Zipline created national drone delivery system to ship blood and drugs to remote medical centers in Rwanda. Now the company has developed world’s swiftest commercial delivery drone, with a top speed of 128kmph (a hair shy of 80mph) with its extended services in Tanzania.

5. Livehealth

This is an endeavor to make medical reports smarter. This Pune-based start-up, founded in 2013, works as a management information system for healthcare providers by using Artificial Intelligence to process a huge data of medical records and ERP transactions. The system collects samples, manages patient records, diagnoses them, generates reports and aids in billing and inventory, making the process smarter and more efficient. In nutshell, it’s an effort that digitizes diagnostic lab workflows through its SaaS platform and makes them available on the cloud to patients and doctors. Doctors and consultants get access to their patient records using a mobile app and the patients can use the app to understand their reports, analyze their past health data and monitor their health using trackers.

Recently the company has raised US$1.1 mil from Nexus Venture Partners which it intends to use to expand its platform across India, explore international markets and to strengthen the product and technology. LiveHealth’s platform has digitized more than 72 million records, so far, and is delivering over 50,000 digital medical records to doctors and patients every day. The start-up works with more than 650 diagnostic centers across India and Africa to automate their operations i.e. to manage patients, financial transactions etc.

6. Niramai: A Novel Breast Cancer Screening Solution

This Bangalore-based start-up, founded in 2016, uses artificial intelligence for a pain-free breast cancer screening. Recently, it had successfully raised money to scale up its efforts. The screening method can detect tumors five times smaller than what clinical examination can detect. It is a safe, non-touch, radiation-free, and low-cost method. Since it’s cost-effective and does not require heavy equipment this solution seems to be ideal for smaller towns where affordable health care is the need of the hour. Mammography works only for women over 40 and increasingly there has been a prevalence of breast cancer among young women, which makes a solution like this a welcome one. NIRAMAI uses a high-resolution thermal sensing device that scans the chest area like a camera. It then uses a cloud-hosted analytics solution for analyzing the thermal images. Its SaaS solution uses big data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning for reliable, early and accurate breast cancer screening. The innovative methods used in the solution have led to multiple US patents, and their novel algorithms have also been peer-reviewed in international scientific conferences. The startup has already started two clinical trials with established hospitals.

7. Hearing Fitness App

Denmark-based company Oticon, a giant hearing solution manufacturer has launched the world’s first hearing fitness tracking technology that helps track hearing aid use and provides insights you can use to optimize your health. The app is based on big data analytics that combines lifestyle and healthcare data with local sound environment analysis and is designed to measure the impact of one’s hearing on their health. This app was declared the winner of the 2018 CES Innovation Award in the software and mobile apps category. Health Fitness gives advice and encouragement to help users hear better and stay healthy.

8. Lumenis M22 Optimal Pulse Technology – An Effective Solution To Treat Dry Eyes

Dry eyes affect millions of adults and its risk increases with advancing age. Keeping this acute eye problem in mind, Lumenis worked in this direction. Lumenis, world’s largest energy-based medical device company for surgical, ophthalmology and aesthetic applications is renowned for its technological breakthroughs in ophthalmic lasers and has a long list of industry gold standards. Lumenis’ latest M22 optimal pulse technology is the answer to a majority of eye inflammation treatments with optimal pulse technology (OPT). Mumbai’s renowned super specialty eye care Ojas Eye Hospital has brought in India Lumenis M22 Optimal Pulse Technology (OPT) for treatment of dry eyes.

The latest eye care technology is seen as a great revolutionary value addition to the ophthalmic applications especially for the treatment of dry eyes. The M22 services will be available at two branches of Ojas Eye Hospital, one at Bandra and the other at Kandivali. Recent studies have showcased prevalence of dry eyes among patients ranging across age groups. Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) is one of the leading causes of dry eye disease (DED), affecting millions of people worldwide. Optimal pulse technology from Lumenis has emerged as the most effective alternative for patients, leading to significant improvement in ocular surface quality, gland function and dry eye symptoms. The Lumenis M22 OPT is an excellent technology for treating eyelid inflammation. OPT is selectively absorbed in the hemoglobin of abnormal blood vessels and destroys them by thrombolysis thereby treating the root cause of the problem leading to immediate relief, a safe and comfortable, fast ‘lunchtime treatment’ and improves the skin appearance too.

9. Karma Healthcare

Karma Healthcare, a Rajasthan-based start-up in the technology-led healthcare space has recently raised INR 3 crores from different investors. The start-up aims to provide high quality, affordable, equitable and reliable healthcare to India’s underserved population via a differentiated business model. The company has combined the human touch of a nurse with the scalability of shared doctor services via real-time online video consultations. It delivers healthcare to consumers via e-Doctor clinics. The effort is to have e-clinics Pan-India. The company thus seeks to make the definitive large-scale impact and in-turn take significant steps towards ‘healthcare for all’. So far, the company has given over 50,000 consultations and currently has 10 e-Doctor clinics in the states of Haryana and Rajasthan.

There is a comprehensive ecosystem of clinical treatment, quality medicines and diagnostics at competitive prices. The company has developed an in-house technology suite that helps it deliver standardized care including a bespoke Clinical Decision Support System and is extending its capabilities to deep learning driven diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. The company has backing from Tata Trusts, UBS Optimus Foundation, and WISH Foundation.

10. Haemophilia Care in India

Haemophilia is a genetic disorder of blood coagulation due to decreased levels or a complete lack of clotting factors that results in profuse bleeding into joints, muscles or internal organs either spontaneously or as a result of accidental or surgical trauma. Globally, India is among the top ten countries of people living with Haemophilia A1 with about 18000 cases. Studies have revealed that by the age of 25 years, 79% of people with Haemophilia are likely to become severely disabled if proper treatment is not provided. Efforts are being made to tackle this situation, so in April this year, Lok Nayak Hospital jointly conducted a one-day patient awareness program “Haem Utsav”, e-learning to empower Haemophilia care in India supported by Novo Nordisk, India. An updated Haemophilia India website (www.haemophiliaindia.com) has been launched for e-learning. Delhi Government has won a global award for introducing yoga sutra in Haemophilia, taken up advocacy and capacity building programs, launched skill-based training programs and a self-infusion program and created self-help groups for Haemophilia.