Quadio launches the first ever revolutionary hearing app for android and iOS in India

Hearing loss is the second largest disability in the country that affects more than 120 million lives with majority sufferers over the age of 60. There are less than 2000 practicing audiologists in India and therefore most people have never actually received treatment until their hearing has degraded severely with age. Keeping this in mind Quadio Devices Pvt Ltd, a leading hearing care provider of India, introduced for the first time their path breaking Q+ hearing app in Mumbai on android and iOS platforms. The app promises to be a holistic mobile-based hearing solution complete with all the features of a conventional hearing tool. The Q+ app is a first of its kind free application that is ultra-advanced besides being affordable, accessible, controllable and customizable. Quadio uses the latest internet and mobile technology to push the boundaries of telemedicine and hearing care and merge the worlds of healthcare and technology. The Q+ app harnesses the processing power of your smart phone to enable it to be used as a complete and fully-functional hearing mechanism. It is designed to maximize the listening experience based on the results of a simple interactive hearing test. The app also gives you the ability to control and customize sound quality by intelligently enhancing hearing sounds and speech. With the Q+ app you can easily follow conversations using the phone headset in both quiet and noisy environments, and control the sound quality to customize it to your preference. The inbuilt hearing test in Q+ is calibrated for accuracy as per ANSI standards for audiometry.

Now, a magnet (Magnamosis) that may make surgical stitches history

A magnetic doughnut-shaped device has been developed that could be the end of stitches and staples. It’s being tested in a trial in the U.S. after results from animal studies suggested it could be highly effective as reported by the Daily Mail. Researchers leading the California trial say the device could be suitable for tens of thousands of procedures and will “revolutionise this area.”

The new device holds the two ends with a strong magnetic bond that researchers believe leads to a more secure anastomosis and faster healing and it is safer than standard techniques, as it can be done using less invasive surgery, meaning a lower risk of complications such as leaks. It’s also said to be cheaper.

The new device, the Magnamosis, is a method of connecting the pieces using the attraction between two magnets, rather than staples or stitches. It consists of two ring magnets, each 23mm in diameter, which have concave or convex surfaces so that they fit snugly against each other.

So far, this process has been shown to take less than a week using the magnet. It then automatically loosens its magnetic hold and is naturally removed from the body.

A series of animal studies have shown that it is reliable and effective, and it is now being used in a clinical trial with patients for the first time.

Essilor Launches Varilux 3.0, the Latest Generation Progressive Spectacle Lens in India

Essilor, the world leader in ophthalmic lenses, has introduced in India Varilux 3.0 series which is designed to provide the smoothest and sharpest vision to people above 40 years of age who are dealing with visual deficit across multiple ranges of vision. Varilux progressive lenses enable the wearer transition his vision smoothly between different distances from near to far, so that he can perform multiple eye functions simultaneously from checking his smartphone to watching the television without any unease or jerk of vision. Varilux 3.0 lenses comprise three ranges – Varilux, Physio, Varilux Comfort and Varilux Liberty.

The Varilux 3.0 range incorporates highly innovative patented technologies including Binocular Booster lens technology, W.A.V.E 2.0 technology and Path Optimizer technology.

VariluxPhysio lenses use the highly innovative Binocular Booster lens technology that simultaneously analyses the prescriptions of both eyes, taking into consideration that a person’s vision is at its best when both eyes are working together in sync.

The W.A.V.E 2.0 lens technology used in both VariluxPhysio and Varilux Comfort delivers sharper vision even in low light conditions. The lenses are intelligently designed to better adapt to the pupil size and beam of light passing through in order to deliver vision with the best resolution in a more accurate and realistic manner.

The Path Optimizer technology used in Varilux Liberty takes into account the wearer’s characteristics to generate a precise and optimal viewing path, from far to near and everything in between so that each and every part of the viewing path matches wearer’s eyesight. Varilux progressive lenses are tried and tested on real wearer’s and therefore guarantees optimal vision at any distance and allows the eye to transit smoothly and effortlessly from near-mid to far vision; this makes instant focus achievable for wearers simultaneously in different vision zones.

MiraCradle – Neonate Cooler, receives the CE and ISO 13485 certification

MiraCradle – Neonate Cooler, an affordable cooling device developed by Pluss in collaboration with CMC Vellore, receives the prestigious CE certification and ISO 13485. UL, a premier global independent safety science company is the accredited body that certified MiraCradle. MiraCradle – Neonate Cooler is an affordable passive cooling device which uses the advanced save Phase Change Material (PCM) technology to cool newborns suffering from birth asphyxia. Birth asphyxia is the second largest cause of neonatal deaths in India and across the world. It is easy to use, safe, lightweight and portable and gives the precise temperature control of 33-34°C for a period of 72 hours with minimal manual supervision and no requirement of constant electricity supply. MiraCradle costs less than 1/8th of the present electronic devices available in the market.

Pluss, with global ambitions in mind, collaborated with UL in October 2014 to obtain the CE and ISO 13485 certification. After a rigorous process of audits, Pluss obtained the ISO 13485 certification in August 2015 and CE certification in May 2016. With the certifications in place, Pluss is now poised to expand the influence of MiraCradle across geographies (Middle East, Africa, South America and South East Asia).

To ensure precise temperature control, MiraCradle- Neonate Cooler uses a cascaded system of PCMs. Cascaded system is a patented technology that employs use of two or more form stabilized PCM mattresses with melt/freeze at different temperatures. By engineering the melting points, thicknesses, conductivities and placement of the involved layers, a “quasi-automated” cooling system is created, which, while being completely passive, behaves like a servo-automated cooling device.

AddressHealth raises US$1.5 million in series a funding

Primary healthcare network, Address Health has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding led by Gray Matters Capital with participation from existing investor, Unitus Seed Fund.

The Bengaluru-based company, which runs school-based neighbourhood clinics and school health programs, will use the investment to expand the model to other schools in Bangalore.

Started in 2010 by doctors Anand Lakshman and Anoop Radhakrishnan, Address Health has reached more than 1 lakh children through on-site services and screening programs to identify health issues and provided early intervention to prevent them from suffering as young adults.

The funding will allow them to expand the reach of their unique model of healthcare, which leverages schools, to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare to children proactively, at a low cost.

Lifespan India introduces unique, non invasive screening test for Diabetes, Cardiometabolic complication

Lifespan, India’s largest chain of diabetes and cardiometabolic clinics introduces the R.I.S.C. test – a unique, non invasive, screening test for risk assessment. It screens an individual for risk of developing diabetes by calculating Insulin resistance. It also assesses one’s cardio metabolic risk score and autonomic neuropathy risk score. It tells about one’s body fat composition, heart functioning and the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, and pseudomotor nerves.

The test assesses 30 vital health indicators which give an idea regarding one’s risk of developing neuropathies and heart related complications. This test does not require any blood sample, only demands a 3 hour fasting. The test helps to

• Identify how diabetes is affecting your organs and what diabetic complications you may have developed and also are at risk of developing.

• Detect cardio metabolic related problems, cardiac autonomic neuropathy, diabetic autonomic neuropathy, arterial stiffness and sudomotor abnormalities.

• Analyzes a person’s present health status- the test checks for markers of underlying abnormal health condition by detecting small physiological changes.

HPE Bags Most Innovative Solution of the Year at Indian ISV Awards 2016

HPE’s eHC solution that provides access, availability & affordability of quality healthcare in remote locations, was judged the most innovative solution of the year at Indian ISV awards 2016, held in Bangalore on July 19th by Techplus Media. This disruptive innovation combines the best of Health & IT domains and provides underserved populations with access to quality, affordable healthcare thereby playing a critical role in contributing to healthy, vibrant communities and spurring economic growth.

The Visitor’s Choice Award was awarded toPolmon Instruments PvtLtdto for the launch of innovative MP98 Automated Melting Point Apparatus. MP98 is a specifically designed apparatus that automatically identifies the melting points and melting ranges of three test samples simultaneously. With the advantage of the colour touch screen to display all melting operations, the apparatus can be independently operated without the need of an external PC or keyboard.

The Jury’s Choice Award was given toBiopharmax Group Ltd for introducing the Biopharmax: The Next Generation of Pharmaceutical Pre-treatment Water Systems. The Pre-treatment process ensures an environment friendly, clean, reliable and effective way of supplying chemical-free and hardness-reduced water for use as RO feed water, without the need of any additional treatment.

SRL Diagnostics introduces technique to diagnose alcoholic liver

SRL Diagnostics, the leading diagnostic chain in India, for the first time has introduced a blood test to diagnose fibrosis in alcoholic liver. Introduced at a price of Rs. 3,900, this non –invasive test has high degree of accuracy in diagnosing liver damage due to alcohol. It is an innovative blood based test to diagnose the stage of damage to liver due to alcohol consumption. Alcoholic liver disease is the most common cause of liver damage in India.

In this test, few milliliters of blood are collected and multiple tests are performed on the same. The results of the tests are fed into a mathematical algorithm, which gives out the stage of liver damage.

According to the World Health Organization, 4.5 per cent of Indian men and 0.6 per cent of Indian women aged 15 years or more suffer from alcohol use disorders. Also, 395 men and 196 women out of every million population in India die of liver cirrhosis every year. According to estimates by SRL, alcoholic Liver Disease is a spectrum of disorders starting with fatty liver, which progresses to hepatitis and if alcohol consumption is unabated, it progresses to cirrhosis in 20 per cent of cases. Approximately, two-thirds of such deaths amongst men and one-thirds amongst women are attributable to alcohol related diseases.

Such a blood based test would be available through the vast network of SRL Laboratories and could prove to be of great value in assessing liver damage due to chronic alcohol consumption.

The Paediatric Network Partners With Josh Software To Create A Collaborative Platform in the Paediatric Eco-system;

Dr. Atish Laddad, a prominent paediatrician in Maharashtra, joined hands with Ruby on Rails Experts, Josh Software, to create a solution for providing an end to end solution, not only for the paediatricians, but also for the parents and their children. The Paediatrics Network, a brainchild of Dr. Laddad, simplifies and streamlines the process, makes it paperless and reduces the time of consultation significantly. This solution allows automation of prescriptions, patients’ historical records, appointments,vaccination records and capturing child’s milestones. This information gets stored on cloud and can be accessed from anywhere and anytime by both doctors and parents. It allows login for doctors, nurses, receptionists and parents.

Josh Software developed The Paediatric Network using Rails APIs and Angular framework. They have also created a mobile application for The Paediatric Network, which will enable parents to access the portal while on the go and take a confirmed appointment with the regular paediatrician in less than a minute. The mobile application has been developed in ionic framework and work on both Android and iOS platform.

It helps in bridging the gap between parents, their kids and paediatricians. By enrolling into TPN, a child will be more closely monitored by medical professionals. This program will help parents, especially working parents, to be at ease as challenges in the changing health patterns of their kid will be observed at initial stages and necessary actions can be taken well in time.

The solution was opened to beta users in July 2016, and currently, a total of 12 paediatricians have registered on the platform and are providing their services to the parents. There has been great interest from the entire community for this platform, and the adoption looks to increase exponentially in the coming months.

AMRIT will reduce the burden of out-of-pocket expenses on patients in India

With the aim to reduce the expenditure incurred by common patients on treatment of cancer and heart diseases, the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda inaugurated the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlet at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. The AMRIT retail outlets will sell drugs at highly discounted rates. These outlets have a very comprehensive list of medicines that are available across range of products. Nine AMRIT Pharmacies have been set up and Safdarjung Hospital is the 10th of this kind.More than 195 drugs for treatment of Cancer and 186 drugs for treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases are being sold through AMRIT with a discount of more than 90% are available to patients. More than 1.77 lakhs patients have been benefitted till date. This has resulted in saving of around Rs.13.00 crores out of pocket expenditure to the patients which translates into an average discount of 69% on MRP. The Government is planning to open 300 new outlets in the country. The project has been floated in a tie-up with government-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL) which is mandated to establish and run the AMRIT chain of pharmacies across the country. HLL has informed that the value of drugs dispensed (till 30th May) from seven outlets is around Rs. 7.00 crores while the MRP for the same was Rs.20.00 crores.

Indian Government launches patients’ feedback initiative ‘MeraAspataal’

Union minister of health and family welfare launched the “MeraAspataal ” initiative at the third National Summit on Good and Replicable Practices and Innovations in public health facilities at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The initiative is an ICT-based Patient Satisfaction System (PSS) named “MeraAspataal / My Hospital” for implementation in public and empanelled private hospitals and is envisaged to empower the patient by seeking his / her views on quality of experience in a public healthcare facility. A multi-channel approach will be used to collect patients’ feedback i.e. web portal, mobile application, Short Message Service (SMS), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS).

3M India, CII Young Innovators Challenge Award 2016

• Microbutor developed by Ganesh Bhere of Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai along with Ashwini Gaikwad of S.S Jondhale College of Engineering, Dombivali and Ashwin Pawade of IIT, Bombay is electricity free, handy and low cost equipment which can be easily used to detect microbial contamination of water. They were the winners in the technical category.

• The runner up under the technical category was for Samay-Sancharak, Braille enabled wearable wrist watch and cell-phone for blind people. The device was developed by RohitBharatkumar Singh of Thakur Institute of Management Studies & Research along with HitarthNarsi Patel of K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering &TanmayVinayShinde of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The innovation displayed the integration of mobile phones with wearable watch design that can act as an interface for the blind to manage their calls and texts effectively.

• In the Social Category, the winner was ‘Saathi’, the first fully biodegradable and ecofriendly sanitary pads made from waste banana tree fiber for women across India.

Cochlear launches first off-the-ear hearing device- KANSO

Cochlear Limited, the world leader in implantable hearing solutions, released its newest innovation – Kanso. It is a sound processor combining the most advanced sound processing technology with a discreet design. Kanso is the smallest and lightest off-the-ear sound processor in the market providing the wearer with both discretion as well as enhanced comfort. The new technology is simple, discreet and smart as it has the ability to automatically adjust to different hearing environments providing a seamless experience from visiting a restaurant, to going to the movies.

Kanso includes state-of-the-art Cochlear True Wireless technology, which helps people use the phone, hear over distance and in noisy situations. The True Wireless range of accessories allows the wearer to stream conversation, phone calls, music and television programs directly to their sound processor.

It has dual microphones, SmartSoundiQ with SCAN and True Wireless technology which all enable the wearer to hear better in difficult listening situations. Kanso provides wearers with best-in-class hearing performance in the real world.

In Kanso clinical trials, 88% of people rated their overall hearing performance with Kanso to be the same or better than with their behind-the-ear sound processor. Most hearing impaired participants rated Kanso better than their own behind-the-ear sound processor on measures of comfort, look and feel and ease of use, with 93% of users rating listening to music with Kanso to be the same or better as with their behind-the-ear processor.

Dr. Reddy’s announces Purple Health, a unique patient-centric platformthat takes care beyond the pill

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd announced the launch of Purple Health, a unique platform designed to inspire patient-centric innovation and deliver solutions that address unmet needs of patients. Built around four pillars of awareness, access, adherence and experience of therapy for patients, Purple Health is another affirmative step forward by Dr. Reddy’s to institutionalize patient-centricity across the organization, stemming from its core belief ‘Good Heath Can’t Wait’. As the first major initiative under Purple Health, the company launched a new range of innovative, patient-centric packaging that aims to enhance the therapy experience for over 20 million patients each year. The entire packaging initiative spanned a period of 24 months from research to concept development to implementation. Starting with the India market, the new packaging will be rolled-out in phased manner over the next six months for 25 of its focus brands. Dr. Reddy’s identified medicine packaging as underserved area to innovate, as it has traditionally been designed only to meet technical and regulatory requirements, with little to ensure patient convenience. The Company partnered with global design and innovation consulting firm IDEO, and applied ‘Human-Centred Design’ approach to finding solutions during the design phase of the project. The team met a cross-section of patients, doctors and pharmacists across the country, conducting in-depth interviews and observational studies to understand patient’s needs. Based on the insights, the company redesigned its blister packs and syrup bottles to address the pain-points.

As a part of Purple Health, the company has also commenced a structured mechanism to assess its brand offerings on delivering care beyond the pill. Based on assessments by an eminent external jury, five of its brands have been certified as “Purple Star” brands for their patient centricity innovations. The five brands cater to needs of patients across various disease areas ranging from diarrhoea to oncology, with the assessment process underway for its other brands.

Innovations Abroad

TALKSPACE is an online mental health counseling service which brings a fresh sense of professionalism to the field, with a systematic approach customized to user needs and has over 300 licensed therapists in its network. New users can take a free assessment and work with Talkspace to get matched to the right provider, starting a long-term mental health journey on the right foot.

How it’s changing healthcare: The people who can most benefit from talk therapy have often found it hardest to come by due to financial difficulties, geographic isolation, and other factors. Talkspace has the potential to change all that, especially after a $9.5M funding round in 2015.

Captain T Cell: Start-up from the MDC wins OneStart competition in London

For the first time, a German team has won the world’s biggest life-science start-up competition. Captain T Cell, founded by Dr. Felix and several colleagues at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), beat 400 international start-ups to win prize money totalling GBP 100,000. The team will use the funds to further develop their innovative approach to cancer immunotherapy. Their goal is to create a platform for the production of personalized, cancer-specific T cell receptors. With the help of these receptors, the body’s own T cells, so called ‘killer cells’, are able to find and specifically destroy cancer cells in the patient’s body.Captain T Cell is supported by the MDC’s own Technology Transfer Office and by the SPARK Berlin program — a mentoring network from the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) and the Stiftung Charité that promotes application-oriented projects in biomedicine both financially and through consultation and training programs.

InBrace

An orthodontics company, InBrace won the Americas stream for the first time. InBrace is the first truly frictionless, self-contained, self-activating, and self-limiting orthodontic device delivering treatment that is faster, more comfortable, and more effective while requiring fewer and quicker appointments.

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Innovation has hit the healthcare sector – national and international – big time! Revolutionary technologies have refreshed the concept of medication and treatment. Enlisted are few of the healthcare innovations in India and abroad, to show what a long way we have come!

Healthcare is one of the largest and progressive sectors worldwide. Health innovation has always been there but it is only recently that it has caught the attention of all the stakeholders. the growth of science and technology is affecting and enhancing the growth of health innovation too. Latest developments in the IT field have facilitated and accelerated this process. If you just glance over the latest scenario, it becomes very evident that health innovation efforts are being made in every area of healthcare and every part of the world. The same technologies that revolutionized the commerce, transportation and finance industries are now bearing down on the $3 trillion healthcare industry, promising to simultaneously improve care delivered while reducing cost. The scope of revolutionary technologies includes diagnostics and monitoring, wearable devices, tele-health, medical modeling, smart devices, data management, tracking and delivery and much more.

Recent Indian innovations
HealthEnablr raises $800K in seed funding
Bamasish Paul, CEO and co-founder, HealthEnablr
Founded in September 2015

Healthcare startup HealthEnablr India Pvt Ltd has raised $800,000 (around Rs 5.4 crores) in seed funding from a group of unnamed professionals, including some prominent investors from Silicon Valley and Hong Kong. The new capital will be used to develop the company’s patented EMR technology and consolidate sales efforts.

The startup connects patients and physicians via video, telephonic conversations and messages, besides offering doctor discovery services. Currently operating in Mumbai and Kolkata, HealthEnablr aims to have a network of over 50,000 verified doctors by the end of 2016. It offers products and services through its mobile and web application, and has plans to expand into a healthcare marketplace, enabling patients to choose and buy healthcare packages from HealthEnablr as well as its growing network of affiliate partners.

Medikoe ties-up with Manipal to launch In-App SOS Feature for Emergency Medical Services

Sreevalsan Menon, Founder and CEO, Medikoe
Launched in October 2015

Medikoe was brought into existence by ex-IBM colleagues Sreevalsan Menon and Raman Shukla, as a disrupter in the online healthcare space. The non-availability of prescribed medicines online, lack of information on healthcare services in different cities and lack of access to verified and specialized home care treatment faced in daily life convinced them to introduce this novel platform. Medikoe, the first online medical platform to provide value-added offers on 360-degree Healthcare & Wellness products and services on a single platform, has joined hands with “Manipal Ambulance Response Service” (MARS) along with technology partner Helpzone Technologies to initiate emergency care treatment in Bangalore. The new SOS feature on Medikoe’s app allows the customer to alert 5 people about the medical emergency including the geo-location, as well as get automatically directed to the first level emergency consultation by Manipal Doctors. If need be, they can also get access to an ambulance rushed to the emergency location as fast as possible. At Manipal Health Enterprises, by joining hands with a holistic platform like Medikoe, we will be able to provide total monitored emergency medical assistance during any crisis situation.

Capitalizing on Medikoe’s wide reach, Manipal will also be able to help the patients and the community at large, save precious lives during the ‘golden hour’.

“Helpzone Technologies has piloted a brand-new concept of ’Titanium Seconds’ with Manipal Hospitals Bangalore, with the primary objective of enabling consumers’ quick access to credible medical emergency assistance within a few seconds of raising an alert. With the Medikoe partnership, we hope that a larger number of citizens can make use of the service,” says Deepa Jeetu, co-founder of Helpzone Technologies.

Cognizant’s new digital healthcare platform, Health TranZform

Cognizant, a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, announced the development of a new digital healthcare platform, Cognizant Health TranZform. Developed with technology from Orion Health, this new digital platform will help consumers make more informed decisions about the cost and quality of their care, while simultaneously enabling healthcare providers and payers to drive greater levels of consumer engagement and operational efficiency. With the healthcare industry shifting from fee-for-service to value-based care, traditional healthcare organizations are increasingly transforming their business models to deliver consumer-centric care. The Health TranZform platform will serve as a cloud-based industry utility, enabling different healthcare stakeholders to easily interact with each other and consumers across the care continuum. By creating a secure platform, data from multiple systems, including payer data from Cognizant’s TriZetto payer core administration platforms, data from physician practice management systems and other healthcare ecosystem platforms can be integrated with electronic health records (EHR), to provide an improved customer experience and drive new solutions.

Cognizant is working with leading global partners like Orion Health to integrate capabilities into the Cognizant Health TranZform platform that will give healthcare organizations a cost-effective, seamless way to provide a differentiated, high-value, customer-centric experience.

Attune Technologies
Ramakrishanan Venkataraman, Co-Founder and COO

Healthcare in India is constantly evolving and many organizations are adopting best global practices that can enhance the quality of healthcare delivery in India. Technology is at the core of what Attune does. They are constantly upgrading their technology and innovating new solutions to make healthcare affordable, seamless and efficient for the entire healthcare value chain.

Attune Technologies, an Innovative healthcare IT product company, was recently recognized the “SiliconIndia Company of the Year 2015 for Healthcare IT” by SiliconIndia. The award was in recognition of Attune Technology’s innovative product offerings and services in the healthcare category. Attune has been making its journey at a rapid pace spreading its operations to 14 countries in a period of only 6 years. Attune Technologies currently offers cloud-based solutions to over 200 hospitals, laboratories, and clinics in India and worldwide and manages more than 10 million patient records. The platform provides hospitals, labs, and clinics with integrated services like management of patient data, scheduling and billing, and workflow on the cloud.

SigTuple Raises Seed Funding from Flipkart, Accel Partners

Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Rohit Kumar Pandey and Apurv Anand, FoundersFounded in 2015

A Bengaluru-based medical technology startup has risen seed funding from Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, VC firm Accel Partners and other angel investors. Other investors who invested in the round include Nirupa Bareja (former Biocon executive), Ashok Bareja (former India head of the now-defunct National Semiconductor), and Debanjan Mukherjee (Amazon Lab126 executive).

The startup builds intelligent solutions for medical diagnosis using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. It develops products for automated analysis of medical images and data to aid diagnosis. The company has built a technology-powered product called Shonit, which comprises a microscope, a mobile phone app and a cloud-powered engine for analysis and reporting. It automatically analyses images of blood captured through a microscope as well as detect various diseases like anemia, malaria, leukemia and other diseases.

Portea Medical Invests in Health Tech Startup PSTakeCare

Pratik Chinchole, Co-Founder & CEO of PSTakeCare

Portea Medical, Indian home healthcare company has picked up majority stake in health-tech startup, PSTakeCare, the platform of which connects key stakeholders in the healthcare delivery ecosystem. Through a combination of comprehensive information, analytics and consumer feedback, PSTakeCare places decision-making power in the hands of patients. The investment in PSTakeCare follows Portea’s acquisition of pharmaceutical distributor, MedybizPharma in November 2015.

PSTakeCare’s technology equips healthcare consumers with relevant knowledge on doctors, hospitals and other healthcare service providers, enabling them to take healthcare decisions based on factors such as insurance coverage provided, procedure-specific feedback and room-wise costs. The platform also presents actual photographs of medical facilities and will use advanced analytics and consumer feedback to provide comprehensive information to the patients. PSTakeCare intends to become the first port-of-call for patients seeking information on doctors, hospitals and labs for any medical procedure. Going forward, we will continue to focus on building disruptive products and services in healthcare, solving key patient needs through innovation. Presently the company is operational in Mumbai.

Diabetes management through start-up Diabetacare

Indian medical start-up Diabetacare which has used innovative digital technology to revolutionize diabetes management in India through mobile interface and to its credit the company has been nominated for the internationally acclaimed ‘Global Mobile Awards 2016’. Diabetacare was shortlisted under the category ‘Best mobile innovation’ for “The internet of things” at the prestigious platform.

Diabetacare has offered a unique 24×7 care support platform that automatically takes care of all aspects of diabetes care – from screening, intervention to monitoring. Reducing the requirement of patient travelling to different sources for blood tests, reports and consultation, Diabetacare has unified all aspects of diabetes management under one platform. The system has set up a 24×7 monitoring service through a set of leading-edge devices that allows a patient to be connected to a centralized monitoring system.

Diabetacare also owns a unique connected new generation ‘glucometer’ that transmits glucose readings to their secured database to be updated in the patients’ personalized electronic medical record (EMR) system.

Diabetacart: A small, portable kit that allows their diabetes specialist nurses to screen patients for diabetes at home or in the clinic. Diagnostic components include a retinal camera for diabetic retinopathy screening, a 12 lead ECG for assessing cardiovascular risk, a vascular Doppler for blood pressure, dynamic foot pressure mapping capability, and much more.

InTouch App: This helps the physician manage and monitor patients that require extra care and attention. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, including tablets, ’phablets’, and smartphones.

dCare Smart: This is a connected “smart” glucometer. Results are transmitted within 30 seconds to the EMR system. It is powered by Vodafone GSM SIM and connected to secured award winning M2M platform.

DxNET: This is a comprehensive EMR system that helps in clinical decision making (CDM) by providing prompts and reminders to the experts and their patients for better quality care.

InMobi & Noora Health

Efforts of two Bangalore-based start-ups InMobi and Noora Health also definitely need to be mentioned here. According to Fast Company, a U.S.-based business magazine that focuses on technology, business and design, InMobi and Noora Health were the only two Indian companies to make it to the list of Top 50 Innovative Companies, ranking 15th and 45th respectively. Noora Health is a lesser-known Indian company, ranked 45th for improving the lives of surgery patients in India. The non-profit organization graduated from the start-up incubator Y Combinator in 2014, and trains doctors and nurses in local hospitals all over India to train groups of family members on basic care like checking the pulse, supervising patient care for those recovering from a surgery or even a lifestyle disease like diabetes. Noora uses an iPad app and offers videos, quizzes, and interactive content to impart this training for at-home recovery, while working to reduce hospital readmission rates.

Digital Magic Wand

Then a ‘digital magic wand’ has been developed to improve healthcare and cybersecurity in which researchers have developed a hardware device to improve home healthcare and to prevent hackers from stealing your personal data. But these new technologies, whether in the form of software for smartphones or specialized wearable / portable devices also pose risks if they’re not designed or configured with security and privacy in mind. So one of the main challenges is that most people do not know how to set up and maintain a secure network in their home, which can lead to compromised or stolen data. It may also potentially allow hackers to access critical devices such as heart rate monitors or dialysis machines.

Wanda

In the new Dartmouth-based project, the researchers developed ‘Wanda’, a small hardware device that has two antennas separated by one-half wavelength and uses radio strength as a communication channel. The clever solution makes it easy for people to add a new device to the Wi-Fi network of their home (or clinic): They simply pull the wand from a USB port on the Wi-Fi access point, carry it close to the new device and point it at the device. Within a few seconds, the wand securely beams the secret Wi-Fi network information to the device. The same method can be used to transfer any information from the wand to the new device without anyone nearby capturing the secrets or tampering with the information. “People love this new approach to connecting devices to Wi-Fi,” says Tim Pierson from Dartmouth College.

“We anticipate our ‘Wanda’ technology being useful in a wide variety of applications, not just healthcare, and for a wide range of device management tasks, not just Wi-Fi network configuration,” Kotz said. The findings will be presented at the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications in San Francisco in April.

ICHR – a digital platform for children

The children’s health records will now be made available at the click of a button. India’s first ever digital platform, Integrated Child Health Record (ICHR), to keep children’s health records, has been launched recently. Supported by cloud computing and mobile technology, ICHR is a revolutionary product to map a child’s health and track vaccination. ICHR is supported by a first-of-its-kind mobile application to address pressing concern of parents willing to track their child’s growth and vaccination. The mobile interface will be available for both android and iOS users. ICHR provides and automates long-term surveillance of a child’s growth. It has other benefits too, like; it will also help in early detection of obesity and malnutrition in urban and rural population respectively. It also addresses the dire need of maintaining the data centrally for research purposes. Once fully implemented, ICHR will become a potent tool in providing authentic region-specific data for analyzing and identifying probable reasons and solutions for both child vaccination and growth related issues. This application is all about empowering parents regarding their children’s vaccination and growth. This application removes the manual vaccination cards and makes the experience paperless and traceable from any part of the world. This is the only app available in India to track the growth of premature babies, whether they are in the hospital or discharged from there, till the age of 5. (The only app, which continues from Fenton chart to the WHO chart). , It is a HIPAA compliant cloud-based solution, with a secure technology, which can be easily linked to hospital’s HIS/EMR system via HL7 or integration adaptors. There is no physical software installation needed to start using iCHR. Being on Amazon cloud, doctors can access real time patient information, regarding growth and vaccination, from any part of the world using Internet.

3D bio-printed liver tissues

The 3D bio-printing market is one of the fastest growing areas in 3D printing right now and in this light, a Bangalore-based bio-tech startup Pandorum Technologies has successfully developed artificial 3D bio-printed liver tissues that mimic human liver functions, enabling affordable medical research for developing new life-saving medicines and vaccines, and eventually leading to full-scale, transplantable 3D printed organs. The breakthrough makes Pandorum the first Indian firm to develop 3D bio-printed liver tissues, and represents a major step forward in the on-demand manufacturing of 3D printed human organs.

In addition, the company noted that it was able to keep the artificial liver cells alive for as long as four weeks. The companies are in a race to develop functional human tissues, skin, vascular systems, and eventually entire organs. Quite recently, we have seen a few major breakthroughs, including 3D printed ‘living’ blood vessels that can deliver nutrients and self-assemble just as in the human body; and the first 3D printed thyroid gland used in a successful transplant operation on a mouse.

Liver toxicity and drug metabolism are the key hurdles and contributors to failed human trials so Pandorum’s 3D bio-printed mini-livers that mimic the human liver will serve as test platforms for discovery and development of drugs with better efficacy, less side-effects and at lower costs.

This is a significant milestone, indeed!
Healthcare Innovations Abroad

Singaporean startup Healint for tracking migraine

Singaporean startup Healint has built a platform and an app, Migraine Buddy, to give patients an easy-to-use interface to monitor all their symptoms and related information, like intensity, triggers, medications and other lifestyle factors. Recently, Healint built a sleep-detection algorithm into Migraine Buddy. It automatically tracks users’ snooze time and correlates that and other behaviors with data about when migraines occur, to predict attacks better. Eventually, Healint hopes to be able to track and report flare-ups for conditions like asthma, epilepsy and spinal stenosis.

A video game headset to help children with ADHD focus

Licensing technology developed by researchers at the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore, Boston-based Company Atentiv hopes to strengthen focus in adolescents through a video game experience. The company’s first product set to launch this year, measures brain activity through a headband and sends that information back to a computer via Bluetooth. This Singaporean technology is able to hone in on mental activity related to attention rather than memory, making it unique compared to other brain-reading games. The child’s attention level, which is displayed on the screen, determines how quickly their character moves in the corresponding computer game. Initial studies of the technology in Singapore, conducted after eight weeks of game play, revealed a 40% decrease in symptoms like impulsivity and inattention in children with mild to moderate ADHD.

Miscellaneous

India, Canada comes together to begin research on portable diagnostics & analyzers.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the IC-IMPACTS Centres of Excellence (IC-IMPACTS) of Canada (The DBT IC-IMPACTS) partnership has been designed to strengthen existing innovation collaborations between researchers working in India and Canada and to stimulate entrepreneurial deployment of research outcomes into community contexts. The main objectives of this partnership between DBT and IC-IMPACTS are:

a. To showcase Canadian and Indian research and industrial innovation to each nation and accelerate the transfer of knowledge and technologies;

b. To develop innovation and knowledge transfer skills through the training of graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students participating in research projects and through extended skill development activities focused on research excellence, entrepreneurial training, and commercialization expertise, thus producing the next generation of research innovators who can realize their discoveries; and

c. To strengthen overall research and innovation relationships between Canada and India and extend Canadian and Indian innovation leadership.

The DBT’s initiative in this regard is of great importance as there is a need for portable assays, which bring the high quality diagnostics associated with a central lab to the patient. This DBTIC-IMPACTS joint research program will focus on automated assays, which can multiplex tests for a range of diseases into a simple portable test. Tests should be based on easily collected sample types such as a finger stick of blood, saliva or urine.

This program will particularly support technologies, which can lead to miniature, portable, and cartridge based diagnostics and analyzers using bodily fluids such as blood, saliva or urine.

In particular portable, field deployable devices and technologies which can perform a complete blood count; differentiate between viral and bacterial infection; provide portable detection system for dengue, HIV, hepatitis, malaria and TB; aid in the detection of systemic disease; monitor the nutritional state of a patient (vitamin D, ferritin etc); require low sample volume for application in infant health care; bring together multiple disciplines for innovative results.

Dassault Systèmes and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) sign an agreement on deploying hands on virtual collaborative platform for clinical research It is a Next Generation Scientific Innovation with the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform and Strategic Collaboration to Advance Programs in Aging, Cancer, Genomics and Microbiota. Inserm will use Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform to conduct its strategic biomedical research programs in the areas of aging, cancer, genomics and microbiota. The platform provides Inserm with an integrated virtual environment for open collaborative research, unified laboratory management and biological and chemical modeling and simulation from Dassault Systèmes’ flagship brand dedicated to scientific excellence, BIOVIA. In turn, Dassault Systèmes will leverage big data from Inserm’s research programs to calibrate and validate scientific models that can be applied to future technologies for the clinical research domain. These models will enable the company to develop next-generation industry solution experiences, targeting clinical trials, to accelerate decision-making and to enable earlier efficacy and safety demonstration with virtual trials. Inserm leads in long-term, competitive scientific programs in human health and medicine and the Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform will help Inserm support collaboration, project management, data, resources, traceability and other processes. Bernard Charlès, President & CEO, Dassault Systèmes said, “This fusion of advanced clinical research and the virtual world is a stepping stone to the future of precision medicine and brings us closer to harmonizing product, nature and life.”

Then there was BIOTRONIK, world’s leading cardio and endovascular technology maker which, recently in India, introduced its latest and most advanced Home Monitoring Technology for patients with implanted cardiac devices such as pacemakers, implantable defibrillators (ICDs) and heart failure devices.

BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® is an Internet based remote monitoring technology that enables physicians to continuously and reliably monitor their patients’ clinical and device status anytime, anywhere, and minimize risk of any negative medical event. The device launched is named the CardioMessenger® which is about the size of a smartphone and is highly robust, more convenient and remarkably portable, as compared to the previous versions of the device. Having the pacemaker wearers constantly connected to their physician, this home monitoring technology enhances safety for the cardiac device patients. The device provides fully automatic transmission of vital information from a patient’s cardiac implant to their physician. . Data is transmitted from the patient’s implant to the CardioMessenger®’s transmitter device, which uses T-Mobile and its partners’ networks (GPRS) to send data to the BIOTRONIK Service Centre, from where the data is sent to the physician. Home Monitoring has helped in the following ways:

a. Doctors worldwide can keep a very close look at their patients’ implanted devices and their cardiac activity.

b. It has helped reduced mortality, episodes of hospitalizations and inappropriate shocks and immensely helped improve the quality of life of patients.

c. It helps use of the full potential of the device that preserves battery life.

d. It has also helped reduce routine clinic follow up, which can be a burden to patients and extra workload for physicians.

e. The physicians get a closer look at trends in different patients. Over a period of time, doctors tend to understand each patient and tailor treatment and advice according to their needs and optimize device function.

f. BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® is the only remote monitoring system worldwide with US FDA and European CE approval to replace conventional in-office follow ups and provide early detection of clinically relevant cardiac events.

g. It is the only system with fully automated data transmission. No patient interaction is needed, leading to the highest possible patient compliance.

h. Physicians can define the events they wish to be notified about via email, SMS or fax and view the events in order of importance.

i. Regular data recording allows significant trend analysis, help physicians understand patients’ condition and adjust their treatments accordingly.

j. The process also allows better scheduling of follow-up appointments which may be skipped if not needed.

Digital technology has drastically changed the way we live, and its impact on healthcare is also profoundly visible today. The Indian government’s special emphasis on Digital India shows how IT and digitalization is inextricably linked to development. Digitalization is bringing revolutionary changes to healthcare delivery across the world, including use of telemedicine to reach out to patients in remote areas and make diagnosis results quicker.

In the field of eye care Bausch & Lomb, a global health and wellness company, entered into a partnership with Bosch India, to market the latter’s innovative digital Fundus camera. This is a compact retina camera, with special software that can detect conditions such as cataract at an early stage. Digital Fundus eye

camera operates on a rechargeable battery, thus making it lightweight and portable. The findings from the Fundus eye camera can be shared over tele-medicine using the MediBilder software. The automated detection algorithm can detect and mark conditions like diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma. These features allow for comprehensive eye screening at primary level and ensure better point of care services. In addition, the modularity of the device allows wider coverage of diseases apart from that of the retina.

Be it India or abroad, innovation in the healthcare sector is here to make a mark in the lives of millions. The only thing needed here is a little technological awareness, and lo! You can be a smart patient!

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