This indigenously developed device reduces the cost of myocardial infarction diagnosis by a factor of 20 compared to what is presently available in the market. According to Dr V Ramgopal Rao, professor, IIT-Bombay, who is part of the team which developed it: "Presently, iSens has to undergo clinical trials. We are to take it up in the next three to six months and it is expected to hit the market by early 2009." |
"Field trials will not take time since it is only a diagnostic tool. To commercialise the product, we are in talks with a few companies in India and with a company in the UK," he added.
iSens works with a table top box costing between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. A disposable card which costs a few hundred every time a test is conducted and the cost per patient works out to less than Rs 1,000. On the other hand, the existing test costs over Rs 20,000.
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"The idea to develop the tool was born while interacting with doctors who wanted a diagnostic tool which was cost-effective," said Rao.
Explaining how the system works, Rao said, "The diagnostic tool measures the levels of proponin, CK-MB and myoglobin in blood which cause myocardial infarction (heart attack). Based on the concentration of these elements, the device classifies the risk as low, medium and high, thereby detecting vulnerability."
"The iSens comprises a cantilever and a molecular FET-based affinity biosensor array for sensing myocardial infarction and subsequent cardiac status prognosis using a suite of molecular markers," he added.
The cost of developing the biosensor has been Rs 3.6 crore and funded through the National Programme for Smart Materials (NPSM). To commercialise the device, the National Programme on Micro and Smart Systems (NPMASS) is funding the trials and is looking for venture capital to take it to market.