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What if a powder derived from stem cells might heal your accident wounds and regenerate tissues with out reconstruction surgical procedure? Or a wearable machine might battle gentle COVID-19 with self-dosing protocols? Or a micro monitoring machine might forestall coronary heart failure? These futuristic improvements are a part of an incubator programme for health-tech start-ups on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Modelled on the incubator programmes on the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the nation’s premier medical institute has joined fingers with younger entrepreneurs to develop healthcare-related merchandise and software program which can be utilized by each docs and sufferers, and are scalable and sensible. As a part of this effort, AIIMS will share its big medical and organic sources — samples and sufferers — to assist start-ups develop merchandise.
Ten incubator initiatives
Currently, 10 such initiatives are below approach on the AIIMS Incubator Programme that’s headed by Dr Alok Thakkar of the Centre for Medical Innovations and Entrepreneurship (CMIE) and Head, Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. “The programme started in 2022 and is being run in collaboration with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). It is assisting us with funds,” stated Dr Thakkar.
Some of the present initiatives are present process medical trials whereas others are awaiting regulatory approvals from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India’s regulatory physique for prescribed drugs and medical gadgets.
AIIMS Delhi has established a brand new workplace for 32 innovators at Jhajjar’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), practically 50 km away. The present innovators are anticipated to shift there quickly.
“All start-ups are being mentored by AIIMS faculty members,” stated Dr Thakkar. According to Dr Madhusudan Bhat, Business Development Officer at CMIE, AIIMS held boot camps for the entrepreneurs and a coaching programme throughout its OTs, ICUs and OPDs to assist them develop patient-friendly merchandise. “We took them on camp visits to give them an idea of how a hospital works and what are the gaps that can be addressed by this innovation,” he says.
An app, regenerative powder and a booster shot
One of the initiatives that’s below incubation at AIIMS addresses a standard concern: weight reduction. Manmeet Kalra and his group are creating a clinically validated app, named Zeigen ObesityRx, for folks struggling to drop extra pounds.
“This determines a patient’s psychological issues like body image, eating disorders, anxiety and stress so that counsellors can prepare a customised plan to get them off the weight cliff. Based on this mapping, counsellors will first use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or talk therapy, which involves assisting obese subjects deal with negative, defeatist and destructive tendencies. This can then bring them to a base level of mental preparedness and readiness to work on their health,” stated Kalra, who’s the founder and head of product division at Zeigen Health.
“Current weight-loss apps do not target a user’s psychology and are focussed only on workout and nutrition plans. Yet, body dysmorphia and eating disorders are at the root of obesity,” he defined.
Kalra’s app can be trialled at AIIMS in May. If outcomes are good, it will possibly hit the market and docs will be capable of prescribe the app to sufferers affected by weight problems and comorbidities like diabetes. A group of 13 specialists from the AIIMS Psychiatry Department, together with Dr Y P S Balhara and Dr Rohit Verma, are mentoring the mission.
Dr Suchi Gupta, an academic-turned-founder of Tech Cell Innovations Private Limited, is at present creating stem cell-based merchandise for treating traumatic accidents and burn wounds. Working with a five-member group, she can be creating a product for treating knee osteoarthritis.
“Since stem-cell products are very expensive, require top-class freezing and storage, and are not very user-friendly, our products are derived from stem-cell byproducts. We have identified small double-membrane-shaped vesicles measuring less than 200 nanometres, called exosomes, which are an alternative to these stem cells, have similar properties and can be developed at a lower cost,” she stated.
Dr Gupta has already developed a powdered formulation that may merely be sprinkled over the wound and speed up its therapeutic and regeneration. “We are also working on sprays and gels. The powder form can be used in injections for treating knee osteoarthritis,” she added.
Unlike painkillers or anti-inflammatory medication, the powder can deal with the underlying reason for the illness. Currently, this product is being examined on pigs to validate its efficacy. “We will soon go for regulatory approval to obtain a testing licence and hope to initiate clinical trials in the next one and-a-half years,” Dr Gupta stated.
Dr Vineet Ahuja, a professor within the Department of Gastroenterology, is mentoring a gaggle of entrepreneurs who’re creating an ingestible capsule to spice up the intestine microbiome, which boosts immunity and is essential to defending our coronary heart and mind well being. “Right now microbiome transplantation is mostly done through faecal transplantation and colonoscopy, which are difficult procedures. So world over, people have started making capsules of various microbiome strains. This can be just as effective and we are working on one such solution. With both doctor and patient inputs first-hand, the innovators understand what both need,” says Dr Ahuja.
Officials stated that at present the programme is in mission mode and is but to be opened to healthcare establishments.
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