Axio Biosolutions develops a first in first aid

Shruti Chakraborty

Here is a not so interesting fact for you. Every sixth car accident in the world happens in India. Here is another in the same vein -- India overtook China in the ghastly realm of road fatalities in 2006 even as it trailed it everywhere else. It does not end here. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, road accident fatalities crossed 1.3 lakh in 2010. Unpleasant, but also unfortunately, all too real statistics.

Now here is an interesting fact from Mexico, a country that experts have compared to India on economic, cultural and demographic terms. For long, it had gone neck and neck with India in the percentage of road fatalities.

Then, low-cost interventions and implementations of pre-hospital trauma life support resulted in a fall in the mortality rate in such cases from 8.2 percent to 4.7 percent over a four-year period to 2006. These interventions included training in basic first aid aspects and skills and increase in ambulance dispatch sites. See the problem? Accidents form one half of the problem of accidental deaths. The lack of on-site emergency first aid accounts for the other half. And that is why a company like Axio Biosolutions Pvt. Ltd. needs our attention.

It Stops Bleeding In Less Than 3 Minutes!

Leo Mavely and Ashish Pandya are students of bioengineering and biochemistry who came together at NirmaLabs, an incubator at Nirma University in Ahmedabad, on the quest to find a solution to traumatic bleeding in case of road accidents. The aim was to create haemostatic emergency dressing for victims who would lose a lot of blood before reaching a hospital.

"It was surprising to see that there was no product available in the market that attended to this problem," says Mavely, Co-Founder and CEO of Axio. Starting in 2008, he says, the duo researched on various solutions available globally. "There were only three products. All were exorbitantly expensive and used by the military in other countries," says Mavely.

The team got support from NirmaLabs and the Department of Science and Technology in the early years. Armed with their own funds totaling Rs. 30 lakh and funding from Dr. Madhu Kumar Mehta, who was heading NirmaLabs, the duo cracked on. In 2011, the company also raised Rs. 1.5 crore from GVFL, formerly known as Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd.

After researching on a number of materials, the duo found that a polymer extracted from shellfish could help develop a solution. Another period of R&D resulted in a bio-dressing that they began selling under the brand name of Axiostat in 2012. "The product can be applied by a layman. It has to be applied to a bleeding wound with some pressure and it stops the bleeding in less than three minutes," Mavely says, adding that the dressing is made from glucosamine, an amino sugar, and is completely natural. Mavely says that when the product comes in contact with blood, the positively charged porous dressing absorbs and clots the negatively charged blood cells. The clot then becomes a physical barrier to prevent further blood loss. Once a patient reaches a hospital or a nursing facility, the Axiostat can be removed by applying saline water or just water. "The product costs less than one tenth of the cost of any other hemostat available in the market globally," says Pandya, Co-Founder and Tech Lead at Axio Bio Solutions. He says that the product has been patented and is available for Rs. 400 in the market. There are already five versions of the product available for different kinds of wounds including dental bleeding.

Spreading Its Wings

Mavely says their first customers were government hospitals in Gujarat, who are more likely to get patients who are victims of accidents at odd hours than private hospitals. The company is now also in talks with the government to make the product available to public health centers through the National Rural Health Mission. "There are many hospitals in cities, but it takes much more time for people in rural areas to reach a decent hospital," Mavely says. That is why the founders are talking with the government to make the product available for government clinics and rural health workers.

The company made revenues of about Rs. 10 lakh from its operations last year. "We are expanding rapidly now and hope to bring in over Rs. 1 crore worth of revenues this year," Mavely says. With the cost of R&D being high, the firm has not broken even but hopes to do so by 2014.

The company has already sold 2,000 units of the Axiostat to 25 clients so far including the paramilitary forces who, Mavely claims, are using the product while operating in Naxal areas. The firm is also in talks with auto makers to provide the product in first aid kits in vehicles. Mavely says Axio is currently in the process of getting the CE Marking, which is the approval it requires to be able to sell in European countries. "This will even help us take the product to South East Asian countries," he says.

Looking Ahead

The company wants to expand its workforce and production capacity to 2 million units, for which it is looking to raise about $3 million this year. The duo also wants to do further R&D on solutions for infection control and healing wounds.

Of the challenges that this and other such products face, Dr. Ketan Patel, Head of Department, Emergency and Trauma, Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad, says there is a lack of awareness. "Yes, the product works very well, but sometimes people think that they don't need to go to a hospital if the bleeding has stopped," he says, adding that the product is extremely useful in pediatric cases. "Previously, we used other means like applying pressure to stop bleeding, but even that takes up to ten minutes, difficult when dealing with children." The product also doesn't work for arterial bleeding, he points out.

One major challenge, that Mavely marks out, is India's regulatory framework that doesn't make it easy to introduce new products in this space. Ironical, given that the government could be one of Axio's biggest clients.

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