Six health start-ups to get Rs 65 lakhs each under Pfizer’s INDovation programme

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Drugmaker Pfizer on September 12 announced six winners of the first edition of the Pfizer INDovation incubation initiative for healthcare start-ups. Pfizer will provide the grant as well as mentorship and technical assistance to the winners, while its programme partner Social Alpha will provide the programme acceleration support.

The six winners will be given a grant of Rs 65 lakh each and also receive incubation support from Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and IIT Delhi, which are among Pfizer Limited’s partners for the programme; the others are Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), Accelerating Growth of New India's Innovations (AGNIi), and knowledge partner Health Innovation Exchange (UNHIEX).

The winners under the ‘Digital Health’ category are: BrainSight Technologies Pvt Ltd’s Voxel Box, which uses an AI-based computational engine to extract brain connectivity and activity patterns, and hard-to-understand structural features, as well as temporally dynamic symptoms; RAMJA Genosensor provides a rapid, easy, and cost-effective novel paper-based device to detect microbial infection and antimicrobial resistance in less than two hours; AI Health Highway India Pvt Ltd’s Ai-Steth is a smart stethoscope to screen, detect and predict heart and lung disorders using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Winners under the ‘Oncology’ category are: Oncophenomics Life Sciences Pvt Ltd. has developed a tumour-informed liquid biopsy CGP test that helps circumvent the issues of non-approachable biopsy regions; Pragmatech Healthcare Solutions Pvt’s CERVICHECK™ Kit provides a clinically conclusive and comprehensive solution for effective preventive cervical cancer screening implementation in a low resource setting, by addressing India-centric challenges of low-recall and drop-outs; Tera Lumen Solutions Pvt Ltd. has developed a non-invasive imaging device that can detect accurate cancer margins intraoperatively and rapidly (within ten minutes of surgery).

According to a statement released by Pfizer and its partners, the focus of the programme was oncology and digital health in view of the increasing burden of cancer in India and the emerging use of digital healthcare to ensure better patients.

Apart from the grant, the support provided under the programme will include product engineering and development services, clinical validation guidance, regulatory advisory, identification of market access opportunities, and catalytic cross-industrial collaborations.

The incubation programme launched in April 2022 will run for two years and help accelerate the lab-to-market journey of the winning start-ups. AIM and NITI Aayog will provide the six winners access to their entire network of incubators and facilities through co-incubation and will also give them technical and strategic advice. The winning start-ups will get customised incubation support across India, through IIT Delhi, the principal incubation partner, other major technology institutes, and the incubation network of Atal Innovation Mission across India.

Speaking about the programme, S Sridhar, Managing Director, Pfizer Limited, said: “At Pfizer, we strongly believe in innovations and breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. I am very impressed by the ingenuity of the solutions proposed by the winning start-ups. Each one of these has the potential to significantly enhance healthcare delivery.”

Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, said, “I congratulate the winners of INDovation and wish them great success in the future. I am also pleased to note that the one thing all six winners have in common is that their solutions can contribute to the National Digital Health Mission. The increased burden of cancer in India and poor prognosis because of delayed intervention, can be controlled through innovative digital health solutions.”