A look at how InnAccel is trying to save patients from Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia

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Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia (VAP) is a common intensive care unit (ICU) acquired lung infection that affects people who are on breath support machines.

It was estimated that over 2,50,000 deaths occur annually in India due to VAP.

One important VAP prevention protocol is the manual insertion of suction tube to clear the throat secretions and maintain oral hygiene.

This has to be done by nurses on continuous basis so that the secretions don't enter lungs causing bacterial infection. Given the patient load and shortage of skilled nursing staff, VAP is becoming a major healthcare problem for hospitals.

Spotting this problem, Coeo Labs, a division of InnAccel, has developed an indigenous device called VAPCare, which automates the manual process of secretion clearance and oral cleansing performed by nurses.

The critical care device was built on artificial intelligence and sensors, cleans as and when there is secretion.

VAPCare has undergone extensive technical and clinical evaluation.

A 30-patient clinical trial the device not only improved patient safety by bringing down cases of mucosal injury, but also increased the effectiveness of secretion clearance.

Most importantly, not single incident of VAP was reported.

InnAccel launched the device in India, and plans to take it to overseas markets in the near future.

It isn't VAPCare, InnAccel developed another device called Saans, a low-cost, portable breathing support device for infants with respiratory problems.

Respiratory disease are common to pre-term babies, where the lungs are not fully developed.

In India, where most deliveries especially in rural and tribal areas happen outside institutional setups like hospitals and clinics; and if they happen in institutional setup, the chances of those clinics and hospitals having a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) are very low.

Most babies have to be transported urgently to hospitals or nursing homes in city that has CPAP machine, but most of the never make it alive due to the distances.

It is estimated that at least 50,000 infants die in India, before they are brought to hospitals.

The Saans – the portable CPAP that runs on a battery where there's no power source or can be hand-pumped if the battery fails. It was designed keep in mind the bad roads and transport options like an autorickshaws in rural areas. Once the pre-term infant reaches hospital using Saans, the hospital takes over the treatment.

After five years of R&D, InnAccel built a portfolio of six products which include a a minimally-invasive device for Sinus surgery, Noxeno, a nasal foreign body remover, and artificial intelligence powered fetal heart rate (FHR) monitor called Fetal Lite for mothers in labour or post 36 weeks of gestation.

All of these devices are built from scratch following the Stanford Biodesign. Stanford Biodesign brings people from diverse backgrounds and forms multi-disciplinary teams consisting of doctors, engineers and designers to examine clinical needs within an Indian setting and identify opportunities for medical technology innovation.

The medical device industry in India is presently valued at $5.2 Billion and is growing at 12-15 percent. India imports about 80 percent of its medical devices. The domestic companies are largely involved in manufacturing low-end products for local consumption and exports.

Slowly some have started making devices of higher complexity such as stents, orthopedic and dental implants, and other medical equipment such as ultrasound machines, ventilators, among others.

Siraj Dhanani, co-founder and CEO of InnAccel, said that rather than copying existing technologies, his company is trying to solve problems specific to India, which are ignored so far by large multinational companies.

"So, unlike other medical technology companies, which are typically working on a variant of an existing technology, like ECG, CT scan, or a patient monitor something that's already been created, since we focus on how to solve a problem and how to make a better product, we come up with completely novel solutions," said Siraj Dhanani, CEO of InnAccel in a recent interview to Moneycontrol.

Dhanani, a pharma industry veteran, co-founded InnAccel along with A. Vijayarajan, an engineer at GE Healthcare, in 2012. They later merged with Coeo Labs and Sattva Medtech, who were incubating under InnAccel.

So far, InnAccel has invested about $5 million, mostly by promoters. The company also received $1.5 million in multiple grants, especially from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

BIRAC is an agency under Department of Biotechnology that provides early stage venture funding for entrepreneurs developing biotech and medical technologies

Dhanani said the company is talking to investors to raise about $10 million for commercialisation and developing the next set of products.