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It was on a chance visit to Melghat, a backward district with a high level of malnutrition in Maharashtra, that medical students Abhishek Singh, 30, and Yogesh Patil, 31, realised there was an urgent need to find a way to detect anaemia in women and children without the use of a needle. More than the complicated technologies that were being developed in the medical world, rural India needed some kind of a simple device that would allow this tiny problem to be checked and, therefore, rectified. Anaemia and malaria, which are treatable, cost the villagers their lives only because these are not detected on time.
The thought remained with the two and during their fourth year of medical school, they decided to develop a non-invasive technology to detect anaemia. A needle-less, blood-less and pain-less technique would allow higher detection and, therefore, cure.
Patil started pursuing an MBA after his MBBS and Singh started pursuing an M-Tech so that he could acquire the engineering skills required for developing these technologies.
The Products
Their company, Biosense Technologies, now has three main products. All the products are next-generation, portable, connected devices and have ‘geo-tagging’ features.
One is the anaemia checking device ToucHb. It checks haemoglobin and gives the result in one minute. The product has been designed keeping in mind the regular limitations one finds in rural India, so it’s portable and battery operated and can work without electricity for at least eight hours. It is primarily for sale to government since the public health programme attempts to track, diagnose and cure anaemia.
One of the big problems of the public health programmes is that they use primitive (using filter paper) methods of testing and have poor accountability. “Workers may claim something has been tested or delivered but there is no way of knowing whether this is true,” explains Patil. ToucHb allows them to map (by feeding in the data through a mobile device) anaemia levels across regions and increases accountability. This allows them to track whether treatment has been done, so it becomes more of a health management tool rather than just diagnostics.
While three states are testing ToucHb, Rajasthan has started using Biosense devices for testing and is finding it less costly and more accurate. Currently, around 400 ToucHbs are in use in Rajasthan (which has around 240).
A second product introduced by the company is uChek – a mobile phone-based urine analysis system – which tests urine for various problems such as urinary tract infection, diabetes and other kidney-related problems. This is being sold to smaller clinics in places where sophisticated laboratories are not available. It helps detect kidney-related problems at a stage where the damage is reversible. Although currently the most widely known and used product is uChek, Patil says in due course, ToucHb sales would be much higher once states begin to see the utility of it since the scale of the anaemia problem is huge.
A third product is an integrated glucometer, which not only tests glucose levels but does diabetes management as well. Again, the idea is that instead of just telling a person he has diabetes, health care workers encourage the patient to manage it by keeping track, having the right medicines and the right dosage, and encouraging the right lifestyle, etc.
Funding and Growth
Although IIM-A provided the seed capital, Biosense has raised funding from impact investor Insitor, which has invested close to Rs 4 crore in the company. Global Super Angels (a group of successful Indian businessmen including MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra and Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma) put in another Rs 80 lakh. Recently, the company raised its first Series A funding from Menterra (Rs 2.4 crore), which has been matched by Insitor. So, the company has attracted a total investment of around Rs 10 crore from private money and Rs 3 crore in grants. At present, the company has 80 employees with 20 in research and development (R&D).
The firm is yet to achieve break even. From a total revenue of Rs 2 crore in the last financial year, its revenues are expected to grow to around Rs 8 crore this year. Although set up in 2009, the first four years were pure R&D and commercial sales began only in 2013.
Expert Take:
Soumitro Ghosh
Senior advisor in public health management, public-private partnership & innovation scale up
Biosense Technologies has been developing innovations addressing diabetes and maternal health. By launching one device a year for past three-four years, it has emerged as one of the top three players in point of care diagnostics in India. With capabilities in digital health and commitment to training and usage, Biosense provides comprehensive solutions to private and public health providers. Its success in building sustainable business with affordable technologies sets good example for other health care innovators struggling to commercialise.
"Accessibility and affordability" are two key strategic pillars of Biosense. While these enhance acceptability among customers, it necessitates business to be 'large volume-low margin' for viability, too. Focus on developing technologies for large scale public health clearly reflects its intent and philosophy in this direction. Starting with a standalone one time sale product e.g. ToucHb, over time subsequent launches e.g. uChek and Gluco-meter relying heavily on the revenue from the consumables ensure long-term earnings. In addition to high-volume sales for sustainability, there are other challenges, too. To tap into the private market fragmented, innovation-averse, established-brand-loving nature of distributors; price erosion from Chinese-Korean competition; lack of certification for diagnostic devices pose major barriers. Furthermore the government as a buyer offers the largest potential to scale up for affordable innovators like Biosense. Yet, lack of clarity in the government's procurement policy for innovations and inordinate delays in government payments continue to pose major obstacles to promising innovators like Biosense.
