VOLUME 6 ISSUE 3 MAY - JUNE 2021 INR 100/-
FELUDA paper strip Innovations 2020: The Perfect test for COVID-19 Siblings of Storm detection COVID-19 Pandemic
by Dr. Debjyoti Chakraborty by Dr. Sarita Jaiswal by Dr. Swati Subodh Readers Feedback A Brief Review on InnoHEALTH Most liked article of the last Issue....
Most read articles Feedback and Testimonials
Effects of Mobile Phones on Children’s Health A very innovative way of making people aware of the advances and facts about medicine. Even a common Man can understand the innohealthmagazine.com/2019/well-being/effects- mobile-phones concepts in magazine easily. Keep going. Well organized contents, attractive pictures and precise information about a lots of important topics. Top Telemedicine companies in India Dr. Shubha H. V innohealthmagazine.com/2020/innovation/top- telemedicine-companies-in-india Dear Team, I am very much thankful and grateful that I got my article published in your esteemed E-health magazine. Special thanks to the chief editor and the team who is behind “InnoHEALTH”. Such a great Advantages & Disadvantages platform where everyone can showcase and express their thoughts in Real Time Health Monitoring Devices the healthcare through your magazine. innohealthmagazine.com/2018/research/real-time-health- Tamanna Sachdeva monitoring-devices Very well laid out magazine and are article are so current and reader friendly. India’s top Artificial Intelligence Organizations Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya in Healthcare innohealthmagazine.com/2020/innovation/top-artificial- I would like to express my gratitude to the chief editor and editorial team intelligence- of “InnoHealth” for the excellent coverage in the magazine published. The positive exposure you gave me on the International Nursing day - praising, thanking and protecting nurses amid COVID-19 challenges segment provided Difference Between Pranayama and Breathing the community with a nice introduction to our goals and services. innohealthmagazine.com/2018/theme/pranayama- Neha Lal breathing-difference
2 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 EXECUTIVE OPINION Unexplored challenges of pandemic
e are exploring an unknown territory that is COVID-19. We have gone through the misery of one year Lockdown of schools, offices, businesses and problems of migrant labourers unheard in the past. We have come to know many challenges due Wto Pandemic which was unexplored. Is it a repeat of a century old Spanish flu or is it a new problem? We are experimenting with medical treatment of Covid without any clinical protocol. The vaccines are also having unknown outcomes like how long it could be effective and would it be effective against mutant virus. The Pandemic has brought new challenges and forced the government and community to think about overcoming it and to explore opportunities to Dr. V K Singh handle challenges. Can one calculate human and economic losses and how to overcome them? Vaccination would take many years to completely cover the population as planned now, would it Editor-in-Chief & MD, control pandemic. The new spike of pandemic can be told as the second wave of pandemic. We InnovatioCuris have lost touch with realities by not wearing masks, no social distancing is maintained as seen in political rallies, farmer’s protest and religious congregation. Many times, it is photo edited by [email protected] political leadership for media publicity by giving sermons without following norms themselves. We cannot predict anything except it is a long battle and maybe it turns out to be endemic by the end of year 2022.
India has made its mark in the international community by exporting /donating vaccines. As
Pandemic has forced everyone per Niti Aayog report released on March 30, 2021 India’s healthcare industry has been growing at a Compound Annual Growth rate of around 22% since 2016 and expected to reach USD
to give due priority to the 372 billion in 2022. Pandemic has not only thrown challenges for the health sector but even health sector, a quantum jump opportunities. Indian health sector has become one of the largest sectors in terms of both “ “ revenue and employment. Pandemic has forced everyone to give due priority to the health in allocation of resources. sector, a quantum jump in allocation of resources. Whatever may be the scenario of the post Whatever may be the scenario pandemic,health sector,would be on the top priority list for development. A lot has been done of the post pandemic,health in the health sector through Atmanirbhar, innovations and National Digital Health Mission. sector,would be on the top It is known fact that every catastrophe does bring development, growth, and new avenues of survival. The behaviour of community to some extent has also changed for good. We have priority list for development. handled pandemic well compared to many developed countries. We credit both the community and govt for it however we should not be complacent to tackle the second wave.
There is going to be enormous digital data generation and increased online traffic by conducting online webinars, conferences and training, Cybersecurity is a new discipline which healthcare workers must acquaint themselves with. New technologies and tools like Artificial Intelligence and blockchain are becoming part of the healthcare delivery system. One also must take guard of social media providing distorted information or at times misinformation. These are new challenges in the post pandemic era.
India has already made a mark in the global community by excelling in many areas related to healthcare. We have become exporters of many items needed to handle pandemic. We need to revamp the healthcare system in view of learnings from this biological disaster. There is a need to strengthen the public health system and improve quality of life to overcome this type of menace. We can not be complacent and must take all possible precautions to fight the pandemic.
Vaccination is not the only answer but basic protocols should also be adhered like wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing and frequent hand sanitization. A slogan to be always remembered. See visuals to know how badly we are following it. Sincere efforts are required by everyone to implement.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 3 Subscribe to InnoHEALTH Get easy and early access to magazine innovations in healthcare
[email protected] +91 9711777328
Visit: innohealthmagazine.com/subscribe
Editor-in-Chief Global Editorial Board Dr. V K Singh Dr. Sunita Chauhan, Director, Robotics & Mechatronics Engineering Program, Executive Editor Monash University, Australia Sachin Gaur Dr. Sarita Jaiswal, Chief Scientific Officer at Carpere, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada Editors Alok Chaudhary Dr. Jaanus Pikani, MD Chairman Dr. Brijender Singh Dhillon ScanBalt & Tartu Biotechnology Park, Estonia Dr. Avantika Batish Tanya Spisbah, Ex-Director Parthvee Jain Australia India Institute, Delhi, India
Associate Editor Prof. Dalena Van Rooyen, Executive Dean (Acting) Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya Faculty of Health Sciences Nelson Mandela University, South Africa Dr. Annie George Chandy, Innovation Manager Creative Editor Lund University, Sweden Clarion Smith Kodamanchili Dr. Debbie Wake, CEO & Chief Medical Officer Senior Designer MywayDigitalHealth, United Kingdom Neha Prakash Dr. Khalid Moidu, CIO Hofstra University, United States of America Business Development Editor Sanjay Gaur Printed and Published by Sachin Gaur (Contact for ads +91 9711777328) on behalf of InnovatioCuris Private Limited Printed at InnovatioCuris Private Limited Editor: Sachin Gaur
DCP Licensing number: F.2.(I-10) Press/2016 Advisory Board Thumbay Moideen, Founder RNI: DELENG/2016/69964 President, THUMBAY Group, UAE © InnovatioCuris Private Limited
Sandipan Gangopadhyay All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval President and COO at GalaxE.Solutions, USA system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission from InnovatioCuris Private Limited. Prof. Paul Lillrank Professor at Aalto University, Finland Image attribution: unsplash.com
Disclaimer Readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquires to satisfy themselves about the veracity of the advertisements before responding to any published in this magazine. Sachin Gaur, the Publisher, Printer and Editor of this magazine, does not vouch for the authenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any the advertiser’s products and/or services. In no event can the Publisher, Printer and Editor of this magazine/ company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and / or damage for advertisements in this magazine. Authors will be solely responsible for any issues arising due to copyright infringements and authenticity of the facts and figures mentioned in their articles. InnoHEALTH magazine is not liable for any damages/copyright infringements.
4 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 CONTENTS
PERSONA FELUDA paper strip test for COVID-19 detection by Dr. Debjyoti Chakraborty ...... 06
THEME Current digitized healthcare sector challenges in India and ...... 08 new tools and avenues decoded by Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya Innovations 2020: Siblings of COVID-19 Pandemic by Dr. Sarita Jaiswal ...... 11 The Perfect Stormby Dr. Swati Subodh ...... 14
INNOVATIONS Healthcare Trends Compiled by: Dr. Avnatika Batish ...... 17
WELL-BEING Effects of Covid-19 on medical student stress levels and coping mechanisms; ...... 24 implications for individuals in stressful environments by Dr. Siddhanth Rangineni
The Truth about Self Love and Ways to Love Ourselves by Dr. Nitika Kohli ...... 28
IN FOCUS Three Key Pharma Marketing Trends in 2021by Irene Trivett ...... 31 What is Estonia doing with Block chain in providing healthcare to its ...... 33 citizens? by Dr. Sunita, Simran Malhotra, Shradha Chandak
RESEARCH How can blockchain help in immunization certificate ...... 35 An International Travel Passport by Varsha Prasad
How can Blockchain help in the Pharma Sector? ...... 39 by Kritika Arora, Col Niteesh Kumar, Sneha Khurana, Dr. Reshu Mathur and Dr. Priyanka Gupta
Are our sportspersons over exhausted? ...... 44 The increasing case of Hypertrophic cardiomyopathyby Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya
NEWSCOPE
Latest news in healthcare Compiled by: Parthvee Jain ...... 47
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 5 PERSONA
PERSONA FELUDA paper strip test for COVID-19 detection Dr. Debjyoti Chakraborty is presently a Senior Scientist at CSIR-IGIB, Delhi. His lab is engaged in developing genome editing tools for contributing to sustainable healthcare solutions including therapeutics THEME and diagnostics. Apart from this the lab also focuses on understanding neuro-developmental diseases using brain organoids.
Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya interviews him regarding his views on his recent achievements on developing a cheaper, faster and simpler alternative to RT-PCR, the gold standard in the diagnosis of COVID-19 known as FnCas9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay (FELUDA), a paper based strip test for coronavirus.
INNOVATIONS Q. Three important events happened in the former is the sensitivity to ultra low 2020 linked with life sciences and the copy numbers while the USP of FnCas9 topic that you work upon. COVID-19, is its high specificity to mismatches and Noble prize for the work of Clustered remarkable accuracy. This is to put to regularly interspaced short palindromic test with RAY (Rapid variant AssaY) repeats (CRISPR) and AlphaFold that can diagnose CoV2 variants that winning the Critical Assessment of are different by a single mismatch protein Structure Prediction (CASP (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ WELL-BEING 14) challenge. What is your reaction to lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00470- them? What is the impact of these events 0/fulltext#articleInformation). in the next 3-5 years on life science research? Q. You are also focused on CRISPR related work with sickle cell anaemia, A. The impact of each of these three things which is an important topic for India. will be unprecedented in coming years. When do you expect the implementation IN FOCUS CRISPR Nobel Prize was only a matter of the successful treatment using of time, however the award going to two CRISPR based methods in India? Also, terrific women scientists in a year when will these be affordable solutions for the women have excelled in almost every larger population? field from politics to science is hopefully going to improve gender inequalities and A. That is my primary work and we are inspire young female scientists to take up Q. FnCas9 Editor Linked Uniform extremely passionate about bringing it to a career in scientific research. AlphaFold’s Detection Assay (FELUDA) that employs people at some stage. We are at a point where RESEARCH development can potentially revolutionise a direct Cas9 based enzymatic readout we have finished with lab studies and are soon custom protein design and is only the for detecting nucleotide sequences and going to investigate if our approach is feasible beginning of our understanding of identifying nucleobase identity without on non human models. We have extensively what AI can do and achieve. Finally the the requirement of trans-cleavage worked on engineering the FnCas9 to make pandemic, with all the negativity that it activity of reporter molecules. How is it more suitable for therapeutic editing. has created across every spectrum, has this study different from Cas12 based Actual implementation would require truly brought science to the doorsteps. lateral flow assay detection used by thorough trials and most importantly
NEWSCOPE The collective action of the medical and WHO and US CDC assay? the support of the policy makers. Doing scientific fraternity to fight against this genome editing in human cells for therapy pandemic through innovations and A. The difference is in the mechanism of will require understanding and discussions discoveries will hopefully prepare us for detection that the individual Cas proteins across various strata of stakeholders and the more challenges to come. Importantly, it employ. Cas12/13 causes collateral common public. reemphasizes the importance of funding cleavage of reporters while FELUDA uses good science consistently. direct binding based readouts. The USP of
6 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 Q. We have seen numerous not mainstream globally despite being My choices for books would be The double collaborations around COVID-19 where developed already last year in some Helix, Sapiens and the newly released The researchers are developing diagnostic parts of the world? Code Breaker. tests for vaccines. Being a researcher A. I totally agree and if the current work PERSONA yourself, what was your journey like for reaches some sort of conclusion we Q. In the CRISPR journey we have seen the past one year? If you can also share hope to have CRISPR tests done more some fundamental basic curiosity driven your pivot from working on sickle cell frequently (particularly for the RAY based research leading towards important anaemia to developing Feluda and then variant detection). One has to remember applications. What is your message to Ray? that technologies become better as more students and young researchers who and more people use them and improve aspire to take the same path? What A. The pandemic showed the power them. qRT PCR was popularized in 1994 should we focus on in India in the next of collective work. In addition to our and it took so many years to get it ready for 3-5 years for example, to get good results THEME industrial partners (Tata Medical and mainstream diagnosis. CRISPRDx is only from the incorporation of CRISPR / AI Diagnostics) we have continuously about 2-3 years old (and even younger in in life sciences? benefitted from discussions and support India) and it is going to get better, faster from scientific colleagues across institutes, and cheaper as more people use it and A. It is important to remember that at the startups, policy makers, clinicians and make it more robust. It is important for end of the day, CRISPR is a technology and common people. As a researcher most regulatory authorities to have faith in new like any other technology it will evolve, INNOVATIONS of our time is spent in the lab in normal and promising science and promote it as get better, have more applications and be times; this, this experience over the last an investment that will pay rich dividends eventually replaced. Thus it should not year has been remarkable. Not only did in the future. be seen as the one-stop solution to your we learn how to implement experimental problem. Every problem requires critical workplans but also to discuss and Q. What inspires you to do research in thinking and innovative approaches, a understand the views of different types of life sciences (around CRISPR)? Any one-size-fits-all need not be the best or the partners in this process. When we were Indian / global scientist/personality most apt way to solve a range of biological working on the SCA, we devoted our skills that inspires you on a daily basis? If questions. The best minds will find ways to WELL-BEING purely from the scientific viewpoint. We you could also recommend a book to learn from nature (like scientists learned realised its application in CoV2 diagnosis younger readers that may inspire them in the case of CRISPR) and come up with very early (Jan 2020) and thanks to the to take up science? improved solutions. unrelenting efforts of a talented bunch of students, were able to implement the A. My approach towards science has been Q. We have seen many scientists embrace FELUDA prototype at break-neck pace. one of problem-solving. The excitement the arts route in infusing the new Under normal conditions, innovations of solving a biological question is what ideas in their scientific journey. Being from lab to market are long and arduous inspires me. Once I started working on associated with music,in your opinion IN FOCUS routes. The pandemic taught us that this genome editing I have been getting mails how does hobbies play an important doesn’t necessarily have to be so. While from parents of kids who have a lot of part in teaching us life lessons? working on FELUDA and the tech transfer hope in this technique and feel one day it to the product TATA MD CHECK, both can save their children from some of the A. Arts and humanities teaches us me and Dr. Souvik Maiti had multiple incurable diseases that they are suffering to appreciate and enjoy life in a non- roles to play, several of which we learned from. This is my greatest inspiration and objective manner. I would insist that on the job. The support and constructive something that I am happy to focus on pursuing an alternate interest (outside RESEARCH enthusiasm of Dr. Anurag Agrawal, priority over other scientific pursuits. science) should be done seriously and not Director IGIB has been phenomenal just as a hobby. This is because it pays rich during this whole process. A lot of scientists inspire me. Feng Zhang, dividends even in one's scientific career. George Church, David Liu, Jennifer Practice associated with perfecting an art Q. Many industries have suffered Doudna, Marina Cavazzana are few of improves the analytical skills of a scientist due to COVID-19 impact, especially the contemporary names in my field. I am and helps make friends and contacts in intrigued by George Church’s approach to travel and tourism. WHO and others unexpected locations. It is a release point NEWSCOPE are talking about a vaccine certificate science as an innovator and the fresh ideas for stress and anxiety. based passport which allows people to he comes up with. Among contemporary move. Do you think CRISPR based tests Indians, Gagandeep Kang, Shahid Jameel can get wider acceptance cross border and our very own Anurag Agrawal are Interviewed by such as RT PCR. What can be done to some of the personalities I admire for Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya, ease out pressure on these distressed their depth of knowledge and outlook Associate Editor, InnoHEALTH sectors? Why are CRISPR based tests towards scientific and clinical problems.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 7 THEME
PERSONA Current digitized healthcare sector challenges in India and
THEME new tools and avenues decoded Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
ne does not fail to notice that the The government of India's top priority at the same time ensuring that proper entire medical services sector and is to ensure, facilitate, encourage timely safeguards are in place via the use of hospitals in India are undergoing manufacture and delivery of covid digital tools and telecommunication, data Oa major transformation in the delivery of 19 vaccines to the local population as storage and standards, hospital listing, services, monitoring and patient care. New well as undertake the exports to about data protection frameworks, encryptions, hospitals are busy opening up specialty 50+ countries across the globe. Some and identification systems. For delivery
RESEARCH hospitals in tier 2 and tier 3 towns across of the supplies are purely commercial of vaccinations from the manufacturing India at a rapid pace. export whereas few donation supplies site to the patients, involves a huge supply are appropriately termed as vaccination chain management service strategy that While this sector has been growing in diplomacy. has been the need of the hour. traction for over a decade now with super- specialty hospitals springing up all over While one does notice very positive efforts As an example, the country urgently India has catapulted to still higher levels in developing covid 19 vaccinations, needs technical support to ramp up the in the last 12 months due to the noticeable challenges have also come in hand- vaccination activity to double from the NEWSCOPE ongoing technology support and digital in-hand including manufacturing present 3 million /day to at least 6 million/ transformation for the healthcare sector. delays, raw material supplies, storage, day. For this to happen, one needs strong This has got due recognition due to the manufacturing capacity constraints, access to digital technologies, mobile aftermath of the covid 19 pandemic and balancing demands, staggering rollout devices to expand capacity via secured cloud- its tracing mechanism. mechanisms, transportation and logistics based services for such a huge campaign.
8 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING
Digital technologies are playing a critical crore registered users and is growing Today in India, the digital transformation role to support the production, planning, month by month. This itself depicts a efforts and adaptability has moved forward monitoring, storing delivery, and success story. It is widely clarified in the in leaps and bounds which initiated about IN FOCUS management of vaccination programs media that the app's data is fully secured a decade ago with just computers in on a pan India basis by successful use of to protect confidentiality and encrypted hospitals for billing, appointments and digital logistic applications via electronic in transit and idle state. Fully encrypted scheduling. communication, mobile networks, and a personal information is stored with special app to reach the nook and corner necessary firewalls and protocols along Tech-savvy hospitals in the metros not of India. The digital vaccination recording with an appropriate transparency. The only have sophisticated medical devices,
and follow-up systems have started World Health Organization has lauded MRI machines but also fully interactive RESEARCH working well lately by using standard (Pan the Aarogya Setu mobile application websites and online platforms. Technology and Aadhar) ID systems to determine for helping health departments in a vast and digitizations have enabled error- eligibility and track patients between country like India to identify COVID-19 free online appointments, consulting, doses. clusters. This clearly shows that the video consulting and conferences, and healthcare industry has seen a massive telemedicine. Apart from these the highly Most of us have heard about the Aarogya shift in its dependency on technology. sophisticated medical devices that modern Setu app. An Indian COVID–19 contact NEWSCOPE tracing, mapping, and self-assessment digital service is primarily a user-friendly mobile app, developed by the National The government of India's top priority Informatics Centre under the Ministry of is to ensure, facilitate, encourage timely Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). manufacture and delivery of covid 19 vaccines
Statistics indicate that by September 2020, to the local population as well as undertake the the Aarogya Setu, the country's Covid-19 exports to about 50+ countries across the globe. contact tracing app, has more than 15.7
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 9 health intelligently and provide them with the seamless healthcare experience as per their expectations.
Some digital enablers also could be rapidly expanded, scaled up, or deployed to support the effort. For example, strengthening and expanding the coverage of foundational ID systems, working with governments and private PERSONA sector service providers as well as expanding access to the internet with a provision of mobile devices for program delivery, or rapidly expanding capabilities of existing information systems through private, secure cloud-based service
THEME providers. The current scenario is addressing challenges and rectification via the use of technology.
Given increasing costs, covid restrictions, patients in the urban area seemed to equip themselves to the use of digital technology with such devices as self- monitoring of BP, sugar, oximeters and
INNOVATIONS temperature monitoring and arranging house visits for blood sample collection. Patients want to increasingly make use of digital devices for their self-care. All this is to ensure that they receive continuing healthcare facilities at their homes due to a shortage of hospital beds which means an increase in tele-monitoring services WELL-BEING and devices.
The object therefore will be for hospitals and medical practitioners to integrate digital technology in upskilling and installing Health records and information systems. This will help in real-time IN FOCUS monitoring and remote diagnostics or tele home care. The technology that is used hospitals across the country use for can assist in the activity of preventive includes telemedicine and diagnostics, detection and curing mean that hospitals care, proper staff allocation and mobile device healthcare, RPM have up-skilled themselves via integration monitoring the reduction of medical sensors, webcams, video-conferencing, of medical knowledge with Al-enabled errors to provide a high level of care. Of videophones, and WebPages for medical devices and electronic health course, the medical expenses have also monitoring of patients. Wearables for records. increased with inflation. Today the focus
RESEARCH recording heartbeat, pulse rate, blood of hospital management is to build loyal pressure, blood sugar, etc. shows that In a nutshell, this summarises the patients. Nowadays, hospitals are using digital Healthcare holds tremendous whole doctor-patient relationship and technology to conclude the patients' promise and opportunities. communication that has culminated a predictive analytics via medical records huge transformation via timely decision data, family history, health insurance making in regards to planning treatments cover via cashless treatments. Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya, is schedules, operation theatres for optimal an international banker turned NEWSCOPE use, data sharing and outcomes to bring When applying predictive analytics to government Advisor, Professor and in the "patient is the king" mindset. the data generated by each patient and Global Ambassador. His forte lies in combining this data with those points franchise promotion and exploring Thus data integration is being actively collected from medical health records, bilateral trade and investment used in extending medical services and healthcare providers will be able to build avenues. for the increase in data aggregation that loyalty with their patients, manage their
10 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 Innovations 2020: Siblings of
COVID-19 Pandemic PERSONA Dr. Sarita Jaiswal THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
very famous speech by John F. Ironically, evolution on earth is also a result health systems and socio-economic Kennedy in 1959, defined the of disasters. The cold war between two development caused by the COVID-19, crisis in an altogether different major world powers led to the invention innovation and emerging technologies Aperspective. He pointed that if “crisis” is of “internet” and converged the world have come to the rescue on both fronts – depicted in Chinese characters 危机 (wēi jī), into a global village. This connectivity providing solutions to health challenges RESEARCH it translates to danger (wēi) opportunity across global villages with enhanced ‘Air as well as enabling people to adapt during (jī). Even though it is not an exact Travel’ in the last six decades showed lockdowns and activity restrictions. translation, his thought-provoking words exponential potential of epidemics have deep connection even in the present converting into global pandemics. Thus, On March 24, 2020 India also decided world crisis. it’s cyclic and progressive i.e. emergencies for lockdown measures. The challenges put human life at risk, technological were no different from other countries During World War II nuclear energy in innovations provide solutions yet in but population density and unequal the form of destructive bombs caused longer term become causative factors for distribution of resources among different NEWSCOPE catastrophic damage to the humankind. another emergency. Coronavirus disease states triggered a quest to resolve multiple However, we have also witnessed its 2019 (COVID-19), first identified in issues. The lack of decision support tremendous benefits in various sectors December 2019, became a global health system is one of the first challenges to and transforming industrial development. threat by March 2020. The pandemic, ensure optimal usage of resources and This race of crisis and human evolution together with the extensive lockdown workforce. In such scenarios, predictive is a continuous process. History itself measures introduced by most countries dynamics such as the Susceptible Exposed shows that crises or extreme conditions in response, resulted in an unprecedented Infectious Recovered (SEIR) model can be useful for directing individuals, a global socio-economic crisis. As countries developed by DRDO, INMAS can be very country, and even the world to a solution. grapple with the serious impacts to public useful. Shortage of Personal Protective
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 11 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS
Equipment (PPEs) and testing facilities (Canada), all are examples of country countries during the first six months of was another hurdle. Multi-use PPEs can specific apps for contact tracing. “Spot the pandemic, based on the application provide tremendous support in such Robot” by Boston Dynamics introduced of a technique called reverse transcription
WELL-BEING situations. “Protection” and “India 365” in Singapore to maintain social distancing polymerase chain reaction (or RT-PCR). Masks developed by DRDO in compliance at streets. “Colivery platform” in Germany Rapid Antigen based testing kits, Paper with NFPA 1999:2018 global standards provided the most efficient route for based kits for indication of infection and are example Multi-use PPEs which can be delivering essential goods. AI supported RT-PCR based diagnostic kits added new washed and used again. This innovation video conferencing “Krisp” removes all dimensions to plethora of innovations. can reduce PPE waste by 30-50 times in background noise during online meetings. “Cowin application” for vaccination higher risk zones (isolated wards) and up to “Cabana mobile” hotel services allow program is a new introduction for
IN FOCUS 100 times in moderate risk zone operations travel along with isolation within the USA. reducing wastage and targeting maximum (disinfection drives). Snood mask with “Thermal Rebellion” helps in screening population coverage in India. anti-viral coating by Virustatic Shield temperature while passing through gates and Indigenous N95 masks by various and its holographic scanning view of air Sanitization practices became the industries, also introduced during 2020. with pollens and multiple particles and new normin 2020. From work places Indian industries in these sectors started helps in detecting safe environments. to household premises sanitization/ evolving for bulk manufacturing and some UV-C, once used as primary sterilient sterilization of surfaces at multiple times even started exporting to other countries, into HVAC systems gained popularity in using alcohol based solutions, raised
RESEARCH which never happened earlier. neutralizing microbial load. Ventilator(s) another issue of multiple exposure induced by DEBEL Bangalore; ATMAN (AI based toxicity and potential fire hazard. A self- Another revolutionary development was system for identifying patients by using sustainable, cost effective sanitation digital transformation of contact tracing X-ray inputs) by CAIR are also examples mechanism for household supplies methods globally. Aarogya Setu (India), of novel R&D achievements. Diagnostic including fruits and vegetables, vehicles, Samparc (DRDO, India), ArriveCan capacities increased rapidly across shoes became a new necessity of COVID times. Some of the technologies launched by DRDO target these requirements.
NEWSCOPE History itself shows that crises or extreme Ozonated Radical Confined Space conditions can be useful for directing Sanitization (ORCS) Unit “Poorn Swachh'' sanitizes both commercial/ domestic individuals, a country, and even the world to a spaces and vehicles. It utilizes 33% of global solution.
12 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS
acceptable limits of ozone (0.01 ppm X closed polymeric structure with microbial functional in developed nations is still 8h) i.e. 0.03 ppm and in combination with protected surface (s) makes it ideal for evolving in our country. The disparity in Triyogani (fumigant) neutralizes microbial isolated wards and operation theatres. framework results in cascading challenges WELL-BEING load even in hidden spaces. Ultra-swachh for Indian manufacturers in the domestic and Ati-swachh are innovative and cost COVID-19 pandemic has challenged market, thus limits domestic production. effective cold sterilization technologies for healthcare facilities throughout the world. This raises production cost for Indian PPEs, heat sensitive healthcare equipment In many regions, the need for acute manufacturers. Even after a product and biomedical waste. inpatient healthcare services has exceeded qualifies for “export quality” it fails the the capacity of hospital systems, and field cost challenges from bulk manufacturing The miniaturized version of ambient air hospitals are being utilized as one part of countries like China, Bangladesh etc. based ozone generator is game changing the response strategy. The congregated Support from the policy framework of Govt IN FOCUS technology in this field. Neem botanicals efforts of different ministries resulted in of India can provide required solutions, infused ozonated water technology “Tri- successful establishment of dedicated which will benefit not only India but also netra hand sanitization unit” provides hospitals for COVID-19. It started from whole world as evident in case of Vaccine an alcohol free hand sanitizing solution. New Delhi and covered many regions production and supply management. Samgrah Swachh and similar mini afterwards. Containerized Test Module by ozonizer(s) provide self-sustainable R&D Engrs (Pune) provides mobility for solutions for, sanitizing fruits/vegetables, covering remote locations. Dr. Sarita Jaiswal is an experienced RESEARCH in house hand sanitizer, mouthwash plant biochemist working at the and even useful for cleaning flowers in Some of these novel technologies are not University of Saskatchewan and Ex bouquet shops. Sanitization mats with only important for managing pandemic Chief Scientific Officer Carpere, sodium hypochlorite gel, for office or within India but also have export potential Canada. Her area of specialization is home entrances manage infection spread to provide economic boost for the country. carbohydrate structural chemistry, via shoes. “Covid Coat+” is a nano- There is huge demand for such innovative metabolism and nutrition. She has encapsulated formulation, which provides products all over the world. India, as a sixty research publications inclusive NEWSCOPE sustained release of biocidal agents for 90 country has potential to become a major of R&D articles, books, manuals/ days. “Automates UV-C system” developed supplier for such products. However, these modules, and book chapters. She by DRDO can be used for decontamination products need to qualify stringent standard has worked in many academic of N95 masks while maintaining Sterility systems to gain access in the International and industrial research projects. Assurance Level (SAL). Foam based beds market. National Registry of Goods and She also has keen interest in are often too costly to disinfect especially Standardized Quality Parameters both for cosmetic formulation development in Isolated Wards and Operation theatres. indigenous and imported goods require and working on her own brand Covid coat technology with viscoelastic databases/ innovative digitized solutions. development. gel addresses this problem. A tightly The framework for stringent quality testing
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 13 The Perfect Storm Dr. Swati Subodh
ccording to a recent McKinsey Global Survey, the pandemic
PERSONA has brought in years of change Ain a matter of months at the levels of organizations and industry. For example, the digitally-enabled products and portfolios within organizations have accelerated by a whooping seven years! Organizations that quickly adopted THEME new strategies and practices while speeding up their own experimentation and innovations are the ones which successfully navigated through the new economic and business environment brought in by the pandemic. Interestingly, most of these changes are predicted to continue even beyond the pandemic. INNOVATIONS As the world collectively continues to adapt and evolve to the ‘new normal’, there are new opportunities that emerged while others have faded into oblivion. This new equilibrium has not only nudged us to think differently but also prepare ourselves for new challenges. WELL-BEING The pandemic is turning out to be the necessity for the emergence of many innovations as countries struggle to contain the spread of coronavirus with a mix of technology and social strategies. Innovations in public health messaging IN FOCUS and communication has been a huge success story in causing behavioural shifts for containment of this infectious virus and dispelling fears of the new vaccines. However, we’ll zoom into a few technology innovations here that were bubbling under for a long time that found a vent of opportunity ironically due to RESEARCH the onset of the pandemic. Our collective strides pre-COVID-19 towards a digital economy suddenly found wings and have accelerated aspects of communication, education, financial services, e-commerce, and health & pharma to a receptive user base in ways that are expected to stay in
NEWSCOPE the post-pandemic era as well.
The Vaccine Chronicles
Unarguably the biggest achievement that emerged out of the pandemic is the
14 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 Closer home, the INSACOG (Indian This new equilibrium has not only nudged us SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortium) is to think differently but also prepare ourselves funnelling genome sequences from 10 network labs for public health decisions.
for new challenges. Sequencing has become so important PERSONA during this pandemic that the slow rate of development of the COVID-19 vaccine Genomics-back to basics sequencing in INSACOG due to hiccups within a year of the onset of the pandemic! attributed to resource and logistics is being Not just one but multiple vaccines have Another technology that catapulted due considered as ‘potentially disastrous’ at a reached the market with many more in late- to the pandemic was the DNA and RNA time when the variants (UK strains, South stage regulatory approvals. On an average, sequencing technology. These have been African strain and Brazilian strain) are vaccines otherwise take about 10 years around since the advent of the human being reportedly on an upswing in the for its journey from discovery research to genome project for nearly two decades Indian population with many states re- THEME manufacturing and delivery costing nearly but had been confined to the domains of imposing partial curfews and lockdowns. $500 million. The COVID-19 vaccines scientific research (so called ‘theoretical For the period January-March 2021, only came to the market within 10-12 months of backwaters’) and small scale clinical 1% (7664 samples) of the total positive the first case being reported with billions of studies. For the first time the study of the samples were sequenced, as opposed to dollars in funding from different agencies genome (termed ‘genomics’) came into the target of 5%. Hopefully, the efforts
pouring in for supporting the different the public health domain for real-time will soon be stepped up considering the INNOVATIONS stages of vaccine development. monitoring, diagnostics, surveillance and renewed urgency. critical decision making. The vaccine roll out has been equally TeleHealth-doctor at a click of a button unprecedented with nearly 70 million In January 2020 the sequence of the SARS- doses of the vaccine being administered in CoV-2 was published, post which various Another domain which has been around India with 4.3% of the population having diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine efforts for many years but that suddenly gained a received at least one of the two doses till launched simultaneously. Now with the lot of traction during the pandemic is the early April 2021, i.e within less than 3 emergence and spread of the coronavirus telehealth services and platforms. As the WELL-BEING months! This is enough to vaccinate 2.6% variant, sequencing technologies are again hospitals closed doors for non-emergency of the Indian population. For India this being positioned to tip the scale between and non-COVID-19 cases across the was indeed a feat as both the vaccines were the virus vs vaccine dilemma. countries last year, patients with chronic indigenously developed, manufactured and ailments and those requiring regular distributed. Globally, 628 million doses of Although 2021 is the year of the vaccine, it monitoring and medical advice were the vaccine had been administered by early is also the year of the COVID-19 variants suddenly left high and dry. To maintain April, enough to cover roughly 4.1% of the with the last two months seeing an increase the continnum of care during social world population. in their spread leading to second, and at distancing norms, self quaratines and IN FOCUS many places a third, wave of infection lockdowns, many hospitals, clinics and The next phase will require innovation escalation. Genomic surveillance has come private practionars aligned with telehealth on how we deliver more doses of the of age during the pandemic and is at the platforms to cater to this cohort. Businesses vaccines faster, to even the difficult to reach forefront of strategies for tracking and thereby re-invented their business model geographies, thereby opening up the largest containing the virus. and implementation strategies in favour logistical challenge ever for vaccination. of digital interventions to stay relevant
This will now be the defining factor for how In the past year, nearly 360,000 SARS- and profitable while providing the much- RESEARCH soon the world populations are vaccinated CoV-2 had been sequenced and stored needed medical services to those who and protected against COVID-19. When in GISAID, a non-profit online database could afford and access it. a vaccine needs multiple doses to develop for sharing viral genomes. Similar efforts sufficient immunity, a healthcare worker have been made in the UK as part of the As compared to pre-COVID-19 times, the for its administration, visit to a healthcare COVID-19 Genomics Consortium (COG- telehealth consultations increased by three facility during a pandemic, and transport UK). These efforts helped in identifying times in India. Besides having obvious and storage in sub zero temperatures, the B.1.1.7 variant in the UK leading to provider-side advantages like, expanding NEWSCOPE then it is difficult to reach scale with the travel restrictions and policy interventions. access to care, reduction of disease vaccination drive, especially in resource poor settings. Fortunately, oral COVID-19 Innovations in public health messaging and vaccines are in development and are at various stages of pilot testing. They might communication has been a huge success story be able to address the challenge of larger-scale vaccination efforts provided in causing behavioural shifts for containment their safety and efficacy is sufficiently of this infectious virus and dispelling fears of proven, in addition to its obvious logistical advantages. the new vaccines.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 15 exposure to health workers and patients, Global Institute report of 2019 states that if predictive care is another step. Many health optimizing use of the scarce personal telemedicine services were to replace 30%- APIs have now opened up that would protective equipment (PPE) and reduction 40% of in-person consultations in India provide resources and data sharing across in dependency on specialized facilities, then the country can save upto $10 billion healthcare institutions and datasets. and cost of maintaining infrastructure, in healthcare costs by 2025. there are patient-side advantages as well. In summary, the pandemic has proven Other than convenience of accessing care, With the government coming up with to be an unlikely catalyst for many the telehealth platform also served well a new telehealth policy for online innovations which were in the wings but PERSONA in maintaining patient confidentiality, consultations by video, audio or chat, this came to the forefront by leveraging the especially for diseases which have social trend is expected to grow further in times opportunities that came along. Innovators stigma attached to it. Women, who are less to come. and technologists have adapted quickly to likely to seek medical care for themselves this evolving environment and have not due to social factors and domestic factors Artificial Intelligence & data analytics- just created wider market opportunities for could also avail these services. This was making sense of chaos themselves, have discovered and reached
THEME evident as the men:women ratio for care a bigger customer segment within a few seeking increased from 75:25 to 68:32 Needless to say, the adoption of digital months which would otherwise have taken during the pandemic. Gynaecologists and technologies and vast quantum of data them years. These trends, which are likely general physicians were the most consulted generated in healthcare, either through to continue beyond the pandemic, now by women. Interestingly, there was a 502% digital devices or due to electronic patient need to be contextualized to reach even the rise in online consultations by patients records, has brought about a higher growth low-income segments to truly scale and above 50 years of age and a 25% rise in in AI and big data, a sector that was already create wider impact. late night consultations. Consultations for accelerating leaps and bounds. mental health issues also saw an upward
INNOVATIONS trend. AI in healthcare has been enhancing Dr. Swati Subodh is a scientist chronic care management, care delivery, and healthcare professional in the Although these are promising trends, they clinical decision support, selfcare, field of Infectious Diseases. Her are limited mostly to urban India. Similar fitness, prevention/wellness, and remote work spans from basic research trends were seen in developed countries diagnostics. With many hospitals and to identification of high potential as well. However, penetration of telehealth healthcare providers already tuning innovations for better public health services in the underserved regions was into remote patient management and outcomes. She has published low. A hybrid physical-virtual model is diagnostics, the quantum of data has
WELL-BEING widely and has led her research being tested by many to increase traction increased alongside. Applying analytics team in various government and and acceptance in geographies with low and intelligence by putting this data to use industry supported projects. uptake of telehealth services. A McKinsey for upgrading their existing services and IN FOCUS RESEARCH NEWSCOPE
16 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 INNOVATIONS PERSONA
AI MODEL TO DETECT ASYMPTOMATIC COVID-19 PATIENTS JUST BY THE SOUND OF THEIR COUGHS RECORDED OVER PHONE CALLS THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
he asymptomatic covid-19 patients words and coughs. The AI model is based of COVID-19 even without any visible are more difficult to trace as these on four algorithms which analysed the physical symptoms, just by hearing the people do not know that they are data and resultantly it accurately identified way a person coughs. The human ear Tsick. However to overcome this problem, 98.5% of coughs from confirmed cases of cannot differentiate between the cough of MIT has found out a solution the answer COVID-19 and detected those cases who a healthy person and that of an unhealthy
to which lies in the use of Artificial had no symptoms but tested positive with one but this can be picked up by Artificial RESEARCH Intelligence. In this direction, Researchers Intelligence. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in one of their latest researches The study also emphasises that a person’s have found out that asymptomatic cases sentiment is embedded in the way he/she of COVID-19 may differ from healthy coughs. AI by analysing one’s cough easily individuals in the way they cough. The pick up things like the person’s mother study shows that an AI model can detect tongue, gender or even emotional state. In NEWSCOPE asymptomatic covid cases by analysing the long term, the research team intends the sound of their coughs. to incorporate this AI model into a user- friendly application so that it can be made To conduct the study, researchers used 100% accuracy. The study is published accessible to a large number of people. forced-cough recording submitted by in the IEEE Journal of Engineering in In the form of an application this model volunteers via smartphones, laptops Medicine and Biology. can be convenient, free and non-invasive and web browsers. Using this collected screening tool for coronavirus. information, the AI model was then The uniqueness of this model lies in the trained using tens of thousands of spoken fact that it can detect who may be a carrier SOURCE: www.businessinsider.in
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 17 SUPER SPECIALISED DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER’S CARE CENTRE FOR ELDERLY OPENED IN BENGALURU
ementia is the most common The facility is located in HBR Layout care an essential service to be available disability and dependency in in North Bengaluru, headed by a team throughout the country. It is sad that as a older people worldover. India of well trained and highly specialised Nation, presently we are under-served to alone has nearly 53 lac elders suffering medical experts. The state of the art provide the right care for these illnesses. PERSONA D from dementia which makes it number facility has Superior rooms, Counselling So every endeavour should be made right 2 in the world as far as the caseload is rooms, Consultation rooms, Cafeteria, now to take care of the elderly with such concerned and Karnataka itself has 3 lac Library, Activity room, Yoga and Exercise disabilities. such cases. The forecast is that India’s hall, Prayer room and a Terrace Lawn with Dementia and Alzheimer’s burden will 24 beds. The place provides Day Care, reach nearly 7.5 million by the end of Residential Care, Family Counselling
THEME 2030. Despite the prevalence of such a Services and Memory Clinic for elders number of cases only a tiny fraction of with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Patient them are formally diagnosed and treated. safety was the most important point Taking care of one’s mental health is still kept in mind while constructing the considered a stigma in Indian society world class facility specially designed by and sadly by most Indians memory loss Healthcare Architects in conjunction with is considered as an unavoidable part of the medical experts. ageing rather than a degenerative disease that must be looked into and treated just Doing effort to treat such patients with KITES Senior Care has received a funding
INNOVATIONS like any other medical condition. So to the right kind of care, provided at the of INR 4 crores which it intends to use to cater to such group of suffering elders, a right time becomes imperative now in expand its infrastructure and is looking to Geriatric Care specialist, KITES Senior India that out of the 1.3 billion population raise more money so that it can provide Care has launched an exclusive, super- nearly 11 crore Indians are above the age its services to more number of cities soon. specialised Dementia and Alzheimer’s of 65 years which is likely to grow to about Care Centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka. 24 crore by the year 2040, making elderly SOURCE: www.cxotv.news WELL-BEING THE INDIAN DIGITAL HEALTHCARE PLATFORM “MEDIBUDDY” RAISES FUNDS
hennai-based Digital healthcare
IN FOCUS platform, Medibuddy is India’s leading digital healthcare platform Cfor inpatient, outpatient, wellness and fitness needs that gives its users 24*7 access to quality healthcare allowing them to have doctor consultations, book lab tests and order medicines by letting them enjoy the comfort of their homes. The
RESEARCH healthcare platform has a partner network of more than 90,000 doctors, 3000 diagnostic centres, 2500 pharmacies and 7000 hospitals covering 23,000 pincodes and a team of 1000 members located Medicine, Gynaecology, Neurology, services to the entire Indian population. across 22 cities in India. Paediatrics, Psychiatry and more. In The vision of Medibuddy is also to expand February 2021, Medibuddy has raised $ 40 its infrastructure technology, team Medibuddy attends to the needs of million from multiple investors with the members and network of doctors, labs, NEWSCOPE more than 35,000 users everyday across aim to bringing more healthcare, disease pharmacies and hospitals. India. For the online consultataions with management and wellness curative medical specialists via video or voice services and with the objective to scale call in real-time the specialities include up its market penetration and provide SOURCE: www.cxotv.news Cardiology, Dermatology, General affordable and accessible healthcare
18 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 GENE EXON SKIPPING THERAPY DELIVERED FOR DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN INDIA PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS
uchenne Muscular Dystrophy age of 3.5 years. This young patient is children and Special Education needs. (DMD) is a genetic disorder the 27th patient in the world to receive Kenmax Multispeciality hospital has now affecting mostly the malethis advanced treatment. JOGO Health tied up with JOGO Health to take care of Dchildren who suffer from muscle wasting which provides the patient neuro- such patients collaboratively. Kenmax is and they typically live only until 35 years muscular assessment and then the digital one of the Government of India Clinical of age. Until 2019 there was no definitive neuro-rehab therapy has been roped in Trials Registry of India (CTRI) registered treatment of DMD but in 2019 FDA to evaluate and help in the functional institutions for clinical research and are WELL-BEING approved a Genetic Engineered Medicine recovery of the child. As opined by presently involved in Gut-Brain Axis called Vyondys 53 for its treatment. A specialists Vyondys 53 is by far the most study in collaboration and funded by total of 26 children have been given this advanced and definitive treatment of University of Okinawa, Japan. This study medicine since then and have shown DMD. As per the neuro-therapists from is an approved CTRI study. Current work promising results. Vyondys 53 is a Gene JOGO Health, the patient has shown very is also going on the influence of Yoga on codon correction at the defective DNA good progress since the administration Neurotransmitters in Autism. level. of Gene Therapy alongwith the digital
therapeutics from JOGO. IN FOCUS In India Kenmax Multispeciality Hospital, Madurai has become the first in the country to receive the ‘Gene exon Skipping Kenmax multi-speciality hospital is 50 therapy’ which has been delivered to a bedded, located in the heart of Madurai 10 year old patient suffering from DMD which specially focuses on people with under the guidance of Dr. K. Raghavan, rare Genetic neurological disorders
a renowned paediatric Neurologist. The like Muscular Dystrophy, Neuro- RESEARCH patient was diagnosed with DMD at the Rehabilitation, Behavioural disorders in SOURCE: www.techplusmedia.com
PORTABLE ULTRASOUND SYSTEM - ‘BUTTERFLY IQ’
onnecticut-based company, qualifying countries. different transducers built in. The NEWSCOPE Butterfly Network has launched microelectromechanical sensors(MEMS) an ultrasound system which The product has a transducer that plugs are fixed in the matrix of the transducer Chas recently won the CE mark and so is into an ipad or iphone via the lightning system and are a part of an integrated going to release its Butterfly iQ portable port, by using a matching application circuit that contains all the necessary ultrasound system in Europe. The device to display live images, change settings electronics. It is this tight integration is already available in the US at a price and review previously obtained scans. which leads to a fast, high-resolution of $2000 per unit and the company There is an ultrasound-on-chip ultra device that can perform tasks that only has recently opened to take orders for wide band matrix within the transducer full-sized ultrasound machines were the Europian market and some other which lets the product as if it has three capable of just a few years ago.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 19 This product can now be used by a clinician anywhere as he/she is able to perform a variety of scans using one portable device. This device may be the most versatile ultrasound machines in the market today. The uniqueness of Butterfly iQ lies in the fact that the company compares its technology to how photo camera sensors have been integrated within smartphones, allowing a person to have high quality PERSONA photo imaging in their pocket. THEME
SOURCE: www.mobihealthnews.com INNOVATIONS
TO SCALE UP VIRTUAL HEALTH PROGRAMS ‘EVIDATION’ RAISES FUNDS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS RESEARCH alifornia-based company, for its stakeholders across healthcare. New individuals to use that evidence to take Evidation has recently raised programs to be launched by Evidation their own health-related actions. funds worth $153 million to intend to transform how individuals Cexpand its virtual health programs on interact with the ecosystem of care by As a company, Evidation measures health Acheivement Platform which is America’s providing personal insights and tools in everyday life and enables anyone to largest digital health network. Evidation to empower and motivate people to participate in ground-breaking research via its virtual health programs make it take evidence-supported actions to and health programs. Privacy of its user NEWSCOPE easier for individuals to manage their understand, manage and improve their and control over permissioned health health. Alongwith the expansion of its health in a better way. With these steps data form the foundation of Evidation. virtual health programs, the company Evidation becomes the first company that It partners with leading healthcare will also invest on building on its trust can help digital health and Biopharma companies to understand health and relationships with individuals and companies generate evidence about their disease outside the walls of a hospital analysing person-generated health data treatments and then empower and enable or clinics. Its mission is to include,
20 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 enable and empower every individual living. In 2020, the company launched to participate in better health outcomes. its first virtual health initiatives including Evidation works with various public Achievement for Heart Health- a first of health organisations, medical speciality its kind health program to help people societies and academic institutions and monitor and improve their cardiovascular has till date since its inception conducted health outside clinical settings with PERSONA more than 100 real-world studies across the initial focus on heart failure. This different therapeutic areas. In 2020, the program was launched in collaboration firm touched the milestone of more than with the American College of Cardiology. 1 million individuals participating in LumiHealth, another personalised different researches and health programs. program that partnership with Apple and the Government of Singapore. These The company has been able to make rapid, privacy-safe health programs seamlessly virtual research at scale possible and it connect care and research, fastening the is believed that company’s innovative discovery and dissemination of evidence- THEME platform can be leveraged to guide supported practices which improve health SOURCE: www.businesswire.com patients on their journey to a healthy outcomes.
‘54GENE’ – THE MOST INNOVATIVE START - UP OF AFRICA INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
ecently launched Nigeria-based America. When African population is not companies working in various locations of start-up, 54gene is considered to be included proportionately in research, then Africa. 54gene also runs clinical programs the most exciting and innovative we see potentially sub-optimal treatment that help to test drugs and treatments that
Rstart-ups to come out of Africa. The basic outcomes as a result of which one cannot ensure that they have optimal medicines RESEARCH aim of 54gene is to address the significant expect good health outcomes for them. for their population. gap in the global Genomics market It has been proven that when Africa is where the pharmaceutical researches use properly included and made to participate The spread of COVID-19 pandemic is almost 90% of the genetic material from in research it produces better treatment proving that research needs to be carried Caucasian region and less than 3% from and diagnostic outcomes in the long run. out inclusively leaving no population Africa. This statistic is prevalent despite 54gene is a health technology company unrepresented proportionately as we have research saying that Africans and people which is deriving insights from the world’s witnessed that covid has shown disparities of African ancestry are genetically more most diverse populations i.e African to on how it affected different populations. NEWSCOPE diverse than all other world populations solve some of the biggest challenges in By getting diverse participants into combined and also less than 1% of global the healthcare sector. It is more than just research a broader picture of treatment drug recovery happens in Africa. 54gene a Biobank wherein it wants to collaborate and diagnostics can be developed to help seeks to solve this problem by including with pharmaceutical companies to get better health outcomes. the underrepresented Africans in Global advance basic research and not just sell Genomics research. anything and everything in the market. In 2021, 54gene has also launched its first Since there are no pharmaceutical whole genome sequencing laboratory with Presently the company has operations companies located on the continent, the help of American Biotech company, in Nigeria, Africa and United States of 54gene intends to facilitate these Illumina. The facility will now enable them
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 21 to sequence and generate the data which informs whether or not any variance is noticed and then such observations can lead to well-regarded publications. 54gene seems to be a very promising endeavour which will represent what true Africa is to the world in the healthcare domain with the aim of improving lives of many Africans witnessing better health
PERSONA outcomes.
SOURCE: www.techcrunch.com THEME ISRO to establish ‘Space Technology Incubation Center’ at NIT Rourkela he Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to establish a ‘Space Technology TIncubation Center’ (S-TIC) at the National Institute of Technology Rourkela to carry
INNOVATIONS out research and product development in space technology and applications. This Centre will enable start-ups to build applications and products that could be used in future space missions. NIT will extend its state-of-the-art laboratories, facilities and expert faculties to meet these objectives.The upcoming centre WELL-BEING will promote startups, capacity-building, innovations and research in Space Technology in the States of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand besides the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The MoU between ISRO and NIT Rourkela for setting up the S-TIC was signed on 18th ISRO team at MOU signing occasion IN FOCUS March 2021 virtually. This collaboration with ISRO will open up new opportunities guidance from expert faculties, mentors Aid of Rs. 2 crore for a period of up to for research & development as well from ISRO and relevant industries. Prof. two years to NIT Rourkela as seed money as space start-ups. Animesh Biswas, Director, NIT Rourkela, for setting up the S-TIC. The seed money said, “I heartily thank ISRO Chairman would be utilised for facility augmentation It will also offer a great opportunity for and Director of CBPO(Capacity Building to carry out the research projects and academia to collaborate with industries Programme Office) for selecting NIT product development taken from ISRO. and contribute in this Aatmanirbhar Rourkela in the Eastern Region for setting NIT Rourkela will provide the required RESEARCH Bharat Abhiyan in the Space Technology up of S-TIC. NIT Rourkela’s Sponsored infrastructure inside its academic campus sector initiated by ISRO.Congratulating Research and Industrial Consultancy is under the supervision of Prof. Susmita NIT Rourkela on this occasion, Dr. K. one among the best in the country. Das from NIT Rourkela. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary Department of Space, Government ISRO’s support will further enhance SOURCE: India Science Wire of India, highlighted that the space our research infrastructure.”The Key technology-related research and the Outcomes envisaged from the S-TIC Compiled by:
NEWSCOPE products from the S-TIC will be utilised include research & innovation in Space Dr. Avnatika Batish, working as the in future Space missions and will help technology, product development, IPR, Director Strategy and Healthcare nation building through ‘‘Aatmanirbhar prototype development, space start- at International Health Emergency Bharat Abhiyan’ in space technology up and business Incubation. A project Learning and Preparedness.She is also and applications domain. Students and book ‘YUKTI – Sanchita 2021’ was also a guest faculty for MBA (HR) and MBA research scholars will execute real projects released by Dr. Sivan during the occasion. Healthcare Management at various B-Schools and is a soft skills trainer. given by ISRO of NIT Rourkela taking ISRO will provide an annual Grant-in-
22 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 WHY VIRTUAL EVENTS?
Low Cost with a Higher Return on Investments
Modular and VIRTUAL EVENT Repeatable as a SERVICE Interactive and participative
OUR EXPERIENCE? Great value for Healthcare Hackathons participants
Event Domains ...... ICT ...... Webinars types MSME Conferences Greater Outreach
Scalable and Measurable
HIGHLIGHT PROJECTS PARTICIPANTS WEBINARS
European Union ICT Standardization 1800+ 27
European Higher Education Virtual Fair 2016 16000+ 87
European Higher Education Virtual Fair 2015 13000+ 73
Knowledge series webinars with European Union & Indian clients 2000+ 30
Fight Corona IDEAthon 5400+
SAMADHAN 9000+
Smart India Hackathon 2020 10000+
ScanBalt Digital Forum 2020 ~ 200
The Cancer Genome Atlas 2020 1500+
PARTNERS
CONTACT +91 9643799179 [email protected] WELL BEING
PERSONA Effects of Covid-19 on medical student stress levels and coping
THEME mechanisms; implications for individuals in stressful environments. INNOVATIONS Dr. Siddhanth Rangineni
" irst day in Medical School they get a stack of books and a dead human being. That, I'm afraid, would Fchange you" does anyone remember this line from the TV show The Mentalist? WELL-BEING Well, it’s true that studying medicine and stress go together. Everything from the humongous syllabus to handling patients in the hospital, in addition to the pressure from parents & professors and let’s not forget the RAGGING. All of these things IN FOCUS in just the first few months, it’s nothing short of overwhelming.
Most medical students who are around 17-18 years of age, go through some of the most competitive entrance exams to get into medical school. A lot of them stay away from home and live in residential RESEARCH facilities of their college, which to put it politely are “sub-par”. Did I mention the examination process during college; the Hence, it has become vital for medical medical community. For budding doctors voluminous syllabus, theory exams with students to develop healthy coping to avoid burnout and stress, they need to high passing marks, along with practical mechanisms, especially in the present be provided with the right guidance & exams which go on for an entire day situation, with the additional strain on the support. or sometimes longer in my experience.
NEWSCOPE These exams consist of at least 4 viva It has become vital for medical students to voce sessions usually dealing with actual microscope slides, organs, bones & develop healthy coping mechanisms, especially sometimes real people. I can’t think of in the present situation, with the additional any other course outside of medicine that has such a strenuous examination process. strain on the medical community.
24 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 STRESS Mental pressure DURING COVID-19 DAY TO DAY In the midst of all this at some point, they After years of writing tests, slogging,
will have a break (if the unit in charge surviving the academic and management PERSONA Classes & postings allows it), which is often spent writing pressure comes the time to enter clinical records, and followed by more classes or postings and all of a sudden the pandemic labs. Now, if the students have made it showed its prevalence. this far, they can happily exit the building with some time to socialize & vent; unless Cessation of clinical postings they are in their first year, then they have to watch out for groups of idle seniors Medical students are proven to be at a looking for their next prey. higher risk of developing mental health THEME disorders during their training period. It doesn’t end here, if you are a medical With the added stressors related to the student you have to face pressure from pandemic, the abrupt cessation of clinical parents, extended family or even from postings for medical students will expose themselves to get distinctions, gold medals them & their family members to risk if or even about entrances into residency they do decide to participate in clinical INNOVATIONS programs; to get everything absolutely postings. These circumstances have placed Let’s dive into what causes the stress; right! Imagining that, you have started to the medical students in a real catch-22 the classes where one is exposed to a scratch the surface of what it feels like to situation. The decreased interaction humongous amount of information, be a medical student. with their peers will pose difficulty for which trust me can be a pain to sort out those students who had higher levels later. Next, we move on to either the Prevalence of mental illness among of depression, anxiety, and stress, to dissection hall or to clinical postings medical students begin with, leading to exacerbation of
depending upon which year they are in symptoms. WELL-BEING and here they face a barrage of questions Medical students go through a very from any corner of the book (if they have high depression & anxiety, though fifth- Online classes figured out which book and author to read semester students having the highest from); irrespective of whether it has been stress scores among medical students, Amid all this chaos, online classes have covered in previous lectures or not, by not however, the prevalence of stress among played a big role in controlling their only professors but sometimes residents 1st-year students was found to be around anxiety symptoms due to being distant as well. In addition to practising their 91.1%. Erratic sleep schedules go hand in from the perceived risk of COVID-19. hand with medicine students. clinical skills, only if the patient feels like One study revealed that 87% of students IN FOCUS it of course. perceived less income knowledge from online classes and over half of the students were totally satisfied with it, and in another study, anxiety levels significantly decreased and knowledge score stopped being a predictor for medical students’ anxiety after switching to the online RESEARCH learning, in contrast with their non- medical peers. Another reason for this could be that minimization of medical students’ presence in hospitals.
Exacerbation of mental illnesses during COVID-19 NEWSCOPE
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 25 There is a need for medical institutions to show more initiative, to aid their students as they go through drastic changes at a vulnerable stage in their lives.
• The students should be taught different stress management techniques to improve their ability to PERSONA cope with a demanding professional course. • The living conditions of the students and their recreational facilities should be improved. • There is also a need to bring about changes in the quality of teaching and THEME evaluation system. • Accustom the medical students to have healthy expectations & avoid perfectionism (factors like self-expectation and expectation from their significant 'others' may influence students' perception of their marks).Hence, the contents, teaching
INNOVATIONS ,learning methods and the evaluation According to some studies, 35.5% of Coping mechanisms employed process needs to be analysed and the undergraduate medical students, improved. including residents & interns showed According to surveys done among Asian • Providing an exam schedule at the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and medical students, there is a complex beginning of the year. stress respectively during COVID-19 relationship between the various stressors • Encouraging cooperation instead of outbreak with the majority with moderate and the coping strategies employed by competition. depression (15.2%), moderate anxiety students; which include • There should be a psychologist WELL-BEING (17.5%), and mild stress (13.4%). • Positive reframing exclusively for this group who Findings show that poor sleep quality is • Planning could foster healthy interpersonal both a cause and an effect of increased • Acceptance relationships with the student, and, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms • Active coping thereby, be in a position to nurture in medical students during this pandemic. • Self-distraction their potentials, as well as see them Thus, worsening of one could exacerbate • Emotional support through the stressful periods. the other. • Humour • There should also be frequent IN FOCUS • Religion workshops on enhancing coping techniques. ABOUT THE FUTURE whereas on the other end of the spectrum; • Since all the behaviour and responses negative Coping Styles like, pass through the filter of personality, NEED FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL • Blame there should also be programs which SUPPORT • Substance Use help the student to identify strengths and weaknesses in his/her personality,
RESEARCH Necessity Responsibility of medical institutions and make changes accordingly.
There is nothing new about hardships for Doctors and Medical students, this year being one of the toughest for the medical fraternity. Nonetheless, in order to have long thriving careers, it is crucial for students to learn the importance NEWSCOPE of support systems like friends and family to rely upon and develop coping mechanisms to help buffer the various stressors & prevent burn out.
26 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME
OPPORTUNITY FOR PERSONAL GROWTH INNOVATIONS For anyone, this can be a discombobulating time; when it is incredibly difficult to learn, with all of our plans in a state of disarray. It can be a good time to take our blinders off & try to look at other things.
Your mind could be scrambling for things to do during this phase & it might be a WELL-BEING good time to expand “what defines you”, to slow down and re-evaluate your priorities.
If you are a medical student, doctor or in any intense field it only gets tougher, not easier. Now, this is not one of those toughen up & push through speeches. In
our journey to heal & help other people or IN FOCUS should I say in our rush; there are some things we should internalize.
First, the work we do is good work, we show to others, learn to show some of it special, how we like to spend our time, but it is also a difficult work. Not that to ourselves. Third, to pay attention to the what we want & how much we are willing this should stop us, but it is worth the intricacies of our own mind; our values, to put up with to get it; with the same acknowledgement. Second, the empathy the things that excite us, what makes us attention we pay to our books. Fourth, RESEARCH especially for anyone in the medical field It is important to learn to heal our patients however, it is also equally important to learn to heal ourselves as well. Finally, it is okay to ask for help, whether it be from our loved ones, our classmates, or from our institutions. NEWSCOPE
Dr. Siddhanth Rangineni is an intern in Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad. He is interested in psychiatry as a specialization & enjoys writing.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 27 The Truth about Self Love and Ways to Love Ourselves
PERSONA Dr. Nitika Kohli THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING
elcome the most romantic healing. Just like you can't solve a problem her morning coffee! Therefore, to identify time of the year with all your unless you acknowledge its existence; the key principle it's important to identify heart & love. It’s a perfect similarly, no medicines or treatment can your dosha type and make sure your daily Wtime to embrace the annual opportunity work on your body and mind unless you habits are in line with it. This can help you to show “yourself” the kind of love & make positive changes and take proactive give your mind and body that coveted IN FOCUS kindness you’re missing upon. As love is steps to keep yourself happy. inner balance. not just about those valentine promises, red heart & roses, it is about the act of Talking about the act of self-care Ayurveda The Three Ways of bringing Self Love deep adoration- SELF LOVE. presents an insightful description of into your everyday LIFE self-love in form of "dincharya" or daily Whenever I say self love, quite a few routine. By following these simple yet There are three primary ways of bringing people think it's just a fancy tagline of very effective procedures we can keep self care into your daily routine, that being selfish or self-obsessed! But that ourselves better and healthy on every includes- RESEARCH isn’t the truth. If you're wondering what single day. Healthy daily diet, proper lifestyle and the real truth behind self love is, how peaceful sleep routine. Simple little it works and what are the ways to love Although those small day to day practises changes in these three aspects of your life yourself - you're at the right place! work like miracles for you and your body. can make your body and mind happier But might not work the same for your than you can imagine! What is Self Love or Self Care as per friend – like you maybe a tea person Ayurveda? while your friend or companion needs Don't believe it? Let's delve deeper...
NEWSCOPE As an Ayurveda practitioner and firm As love is not just about those valentine believer of incorporating ayurvedic principles into our everyday lives, I feel promises, red heart & roses, it is about the act self care or self love is the first step towards of deep adoration- SELF LOVE
28 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING Diet & Ayurveda • FOR CONSCIOUS EATING- Lifestyle & Ayurveda Incorporate healthy greens and sprouts into your diet & no matter Well, your love for potatoes will not really what you're eating, eat mindfully and Our crazy work routines, stress and make you a potato, but the essence is chew every bite properly everyday chores are literally never ending, that our body craves for certain types of and this pandemic (with WFH, less help foods and it ultimately decides our overall • FOR SOOTHING NIGHTS- End and kids staying home) has brought that fitness, moods and much more! your tiring day with a glass of warm into focus like never before. But what is
milk with turmeric life if we can't enjoy a few little pleasures IN FOCUS Small dietary changes that might help you every single day? feel better - Following them all is hard right? Don’t worry adding any one of these in your I suggest doing a little something for • FOR REFRESHED MORNING- routine will make a huge difference yourself every day. That "something" may Begin your day with a cup of warm herbal tea as it detoxes your body &
soothes your systems. It also helps RESEARCH you to kick start your day with energy.
• FOR HYDRATED AFTERNOON- consume cool green smoothie and enjoy it while it's still fresh- as sunny days bring nothing but dehydration
& to overcome its adverse effect of NEWSCOPE your body-
• FOR LOW EVENING- Enjoy that bar of dark chocolate you've been saving for something special!
• FOR HUNGER STIVE- Reach out to a stash of guilt free nuts and dry fruits to snack on
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 29 not be a costly spa session or a vacation. • Watch a relaxing movie! • Dedicate 6-8 hours to peaceful sleep Here are a few simple things that you can every night do everyday - • Soak yourself in a hot bath tub or take a warm shower. Light some essential • Switch off all screens at least half an • Start your day with a 3 minute self oil candles to truly relax yourself hour before your sleep time face massage or facial (with a suitable natural oil) to invigorate your senses • Show your feet some TLC - soak • Make sure your bedroom light and and your skin! them in a hot tub and follow up with temperature is perfect for a good a foot cream massage before you tuck night's sleep PERSONA • Practise 5-minute everyday in for the night meditation session just by closing • If you are restless, avoid intake of your eyes and staying away from caffeinated drinks before bedtime screens (and other distractions) Sleep & Ayurveda works wonders for your body and • A glass of warm milk can help you mind On an average, we spend one thirds of our sleep better
THEME lives sleeping. Yes! It's THAT important. So • Not exercising every day? Start today! if you've been ignoring your sleep routine, • Soft instrumental music can relax Even if it's just for 10 minutes to it's time to wake up (pun intended!). your mind and help your body begin with. unwind Things you can do to improve your sleep - • Yoga person or gym enthusiast? No • Light essential oil diffusers by the matter what's your exercise style, let's • If you've been missing sleep due to bedside to soothe your nerves bring it out in the open! The fresh air work or other reasons, sleep debt can and greenery around can double the pile up. Prioritize your body and put
INNOVATIONS benefits of your everyday exercise everything else on hold - sleep 8-10 routine. hours at a stretch to help your body refresh and recharge. • Read that book you've been wanting for! Even if it's just a couple of pages • On a regular basis, try going to bed to begin with. and waking up at the same time everyday - weekday or weekends don't matter! WELL-BEING
Start Loving Yourself - Today
There is no right time to indulge in self- care, once you start loving the act of self-
IN FOCUS love, every day will be a valentine’s day for you & your surroundings. Practising these very beneficial tips every day, brings in the change you have been looking for. Start with just one idea of your diet, lifestyle and sleep every day and feel the change. So here I am signing off with more power & positivity to you & unless you're in that
RESEARCH "smitten in love" phase of life! – true love is nothing but self-love.
Dr. Nitika Kohli is a prominent Ayurvedic Expert and the leading maestro of AIMIL healthcare Delhi.
NEWSCOPE A versatile and high result-driven Ayurvedic Physician who has delved her study in the search of social well being. She is known for her marked contributions to society for the welfare of Vitiligo patients.
30 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 IN FOCUS PERSONA Three Key Pharma Marketing
Trends in 2021 THEME Irene Trivett INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
he product has always been king Zero-click search authority on the specific search query.
in the pharmaceutical industry, This is bad news for websites that don’t RESEARCH but pharma marketing comes More than half of all online searches even make it to the first SERP. More often Ta close second. Pharma marketing is a now occur without even clicking, thanks than not, users will click on the read huge industry on its own, earning nearly to Google’s new zero-click search. A more button on the result snippet than go $30 billion ($233 billion) in the past 20 zero-click search is one in which Google through the other results. years—a 70% increase in that timeframe displays an answer in a snippet at the top as per the latest research. As the world of the search engine results page (SERP), On the other hand, this could also be an acknowledges the importance of drugs eliminating the need to visit the webpage. advantage for smaller pharma companies NEWSCOPE and pharmaceuticals, especially following This way, one site is chosen to be the that don’t end up at the top of the SERP. the pandemic outbreak, it’s clear that pharma marketing has a bright road A zero-click search is one in which Google ahead. displays an answer in a snippet at the With the fast-evolving technology and rapid change in consumer behavior, top of the search engine results page one question remains: How will pharma (SERP),eliminating the need to visit the marketing change moving forward? webpage.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 31 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS
As the zero-click search is reliant on A caveat of this new method of delivering intelligence (AI) allows pharma companies content, these companies could create patient care, however, is that doctors, to have access to real-time data and specific content that may earn them a hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies insights due to the AI’s machine learning snippet. Digital marketing firm Ayima need time to get comfortable with the new capabilities. AI-driven tools eradicate highlights the importance of expertly arrangement. As we previously talked human error, making its data analyses WELL-BEING written content, as this doesn’t just help about in our ‘Marketing approaches and, consequently, hyper-personal you rank in the SERPs, it also attracts your in the Era of Digital Healthcare strategy deployment near flawless. target market to your site. Furthermore, Transformation’ write-up, the change in these snippets could be viewed as free health’s digital landscape has led to a mass In addition to social listening and advertising for your pharma brand. Invest transformation of business models as the hyper-specific KOL mapping, AI tools in strategic SEO content and optimize healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, as can also do game-changing marketing your Google Ads campaigns to stay as well as the consumers, are coping. In fact, copy auto-generation. This essentially IN FOCUS relevant as possible, and snag a potential these changes all lead toward a connected lets you publish pharma content which snippet. care paradigm in which you’ll need to could triple engagement metrics among integrate social media, and other mobile physicians and patients, as reported by Telemedicine and online platforms with healthcare, PM360. What’s more is that this success including pharmaceutical marketing. is scalable and repeatable, so it’s a good The spike in telemedicine spending idea to invest in good AI tools for your during the first peak of the pandemic AI & hyper personalization company as soon as you possibly can. showed how in-demand the service really RESEARCH is in Indian. In August 2020, the National Mass media marketing may be making Pharma marketing is an omnichannel and Digital Health Mission (NDHM) pledged a swift exit as more and more physicians very interconnected process, so it may to support the universal health coverage and consumers—the key opinion leaders actually benefit you to try a combination with a budget of $4.7billion ($63.6 (KOLs) in pharma—are searching for of these trends to make sure that your million). more targeted information. Artificial pharmaceutical products can gain a bigger market share. Artificial intelligence (AI) allows pharma NEWSCOPE Irene Trivett is a writer who companies to have access to real-time data focuses on health technology, and insights due to the AI’s machine learning digitalization, AI and informatics. capabilities.
32 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 What is Estonia doing with Block chain in providing PERSONA healthcare to its citizens?
Dr. Sunita, Simran Malhotra, Shradha Chandak THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
stonia, officially known as the registering all the patients’ data from birth blockchain science to make the health Republic of Estonia is a country in till death. Estonia’s quality of healthcare is records impenetrable . The essential the Baltic region, to the north of very good. reason for KSI is the exclusive use of EEurope. The Gulf of Finland borders this hash-function cryptography which gives country to the north and Latvia from the Estonia is one of the most digitally records validation rather than dependence RESEARCH south. progressive countries in the world. on other centralized trust authorities. Estonia’s medical services information is In 2016, Estonian e-health foundation Estonia enjoys incredible progressions, 99% digitized. It is the first country which launched a blockchain technology to high monetary pay and among the uses the blockchain in healthcare. Since secure the health records of the patients. quickest developing economies in the 2008, ‘hash-linked time-stamping’ has European Union. The Estonian residents been used in the public and private sector. Residents of Estonia carry smart cards are all around furnished with widespread through which they can access over NEWSCOPE medical care, free education and one In 2011, the Estonia experts in association 1000 online government portals to check of the longest paid maternity leave in with Guardtime, a cyber-security their health records. With conventional the OECD. Estonia is the first country enterprise based in Estonia in 2007, used network protection like firewalls, attacks in the world to launch an EHR system the Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI) can go undetected for quite a long time, and it is also difficult to find the amount of the information that has been stolen In 2016, Estonian e-health foundation or destroyed. Blockchain secures online launched a blockchain technology to secure health records by making information immutable. Hackers will not be able to the health records of the patients. make any changes in the data.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 33 All the Digital transactions made with Blockchain technology are recorded irreversibly. The records are difficult to change since they are shared across many computers in real time through a distributed ledger, globally.
The blockchain technology utilized in Estonia is unique from standard PERSONA block chains because of its adaptability. Blockchain technology can offer individual citizens a transparent and clear view of their clinical data for the first time ever.
THEME To keep up health data totally immune and time available to people, the electronic ID-card gadget used by the Estonian e-Health record utilizes blockchain technology for ensuring information integrity and protecting the data from the internal threats. In this manner, the forgery is easily detectable and damages to a person's health can be avoided.
INNOVATIONS Selected State Registries backed by Challenges of Blockchain technology in The Estonian Government is joining using the blockchain technologies are: Estonian Healthcare hands with a company Guardtime to Healthcare Registry, Property Registry, implement Blockchain. The company Business Registry, Succession Registry, 1. Blockchain technology suffers a has been working with the government Digital Court System, Surveillance/ security issue due to the past bitcoin since 2011 to secure records. Ten main Tracking Information System, Official breaches. As healthcare data has to pharmaceutical agencies – initiated by way State Announcements, and State Gazette. be kept very confidential and safety of Roche and co-ordinated by the Swedish is the primary concern. Break Level WELL-BEING Association of the Pharmaceutical Estonia is leading the way in the blockchain index reported 554 million lost or Industry (LIF) – have partnered with revolution. Implementation of blockchain stolen records in the first half of 2016. Guardtime to enable the visibility of has secured certain records, facilitates Security is the major challenge. “real world data” in healthcare with the better healthcare, more environment 2. Management and transferring of the ultimate intention of realizing outcomes- friendly transactions and empowers the data from the existing system to a new based contracting. EY, Sensyne Health patients. system also poses a major problem in
IN FOCUS and Guardtime to use AI and blockchain the implementation of blockchain. to link health care reimbursement and Application of Blockchain technology A lot of technology is required in actual patient outcomes. in Estonian Healthcare rebuilding the existing data which is very expensive. Estonia makes use of blockchain 1. Medical practitioners have unlimited 3. Also, the mindset of people is hard to technological know-how to put into effect access to the patient’s information change for adapting a new technology. the integrity of the government data and and allocate the required time for Few people were reluctant to get systems. Estonian Information Systems each of their patients. accustomed with the new technology.
RESEARCH Authority (RIA) is a crucial provider 2. The information is immutable and company for the Government, they hackers cannot make any changes to guarantee the admission to the blockchain information. Hence, the information Dr. Sunita, Simran Malhotra, network for the State Agencies via existing cannot be tempered. Shradha Chandak are the digital public service software known as 3. A huge volume of records can be put students of International X-Road to create the EHR network. under a secured ledger. institute of health management Research, Delhi (IIHMR).
NEWSCOPE Residents of Estonia carry smart cards through They are currently pursuing PGDHM in hospital and which they can access over 1000 online healthcare management. government portals to check their health records.
34 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 RESEARCH PERSONA How can blockchain help in
immunization certificate:An THEME International Travel Passport Varsha Prasad INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS RESEARCH
t is more than a year since the onset of immunization certificates among certain of international movement of people, the global pandemic COVID-19. After nations. the significance of these immunization months of lockdown and restricted certificates is even more. Some of the Ioutdoor activities, things are now getting Immunization certificate refers to the European countries and U. S. have already back towards normal, globally. Despite all certification from an authorized doctor been considering similar proposals for the precautions such as social distancing, or representative of the state or health other infectious diseases like yellow sanitization, wearing masks along with department of any particular country, fever. In context to COVID-19, these NEWSCOPE other guidelines that are issued by WHO which states that the person has received immunization certifications are useful and health organizations of respective immunization towards infectious diseases for both domestic as well as international countries regarding COVID-19, there is under this regulation, together with the travellers while travelling from high-risk a significant probability of an individual types of immunizations administered areas or towards high-risk areas. to get infected by the virus. In order to and date of administration as proof of reduce the possibility of the spread of the immunity. In the present scenario, when Currently- Seychelles, Thailand and infection to the community, vaccination the movement of people is getting back Georgia are some of the countries which is key and to know who is vaccinated and to normal, it is very important to have are allowing international passengers to who is not there is a trend of adoption of these immunization certifications. In case enter in their county if they are vaccinated
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 35 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING with doses of vaccinations which are immunization certificate for COVID-19 individuals, it becomes almost impossible permitted in those countries. In addition immunization. to track the statistics of the associated to these, there are certain more countries data. In addition to this, there is a need for which are in process of allowing the But there are some of the challenges a proper infrastructure to be implemented immunized travellers to visit them. that are associated with the use of these on such a large scale, which also questions paper based immunized certificates. the availability of both financial as well
IN FOCUS In India, there is no provision of The primary challenge that arises with as human resources (certifiers). Also, standardized immunization certificate the current paper-based immunization there is a possibility of some ethical issues for COVID-19 as of now but there is a certificate is that for these there should related to the incidence of fake certificates. written copy provided to patients which be a government body that needs to be Technology can certainly be useful in mentions the vaccination details of the appointed which can take care of the order to overcome the various challenges patient. Though some of the countries certificate related activities, even once that are associated with the paper-based are following the concept of paper-based the certificates are issued to certain immunization certificates. Blockchain could be used as a supportive as well as
RESEARCH efficient option to replace these traditional Despite all the precautions such as social methods of certification. distancing, sanitization, wearing masks along This blockchain based network would with other guidelines that are issued by work as a decentralized platform which function as follows - WHO and health organizations of respective First of all, a representative of the NEWSCOPE countries regarding COVID-19, there is a healthcare authority who is appointed for significant probability of an individual to get testing purposes needs to be registered in the blockchain and is provided with infected by the virus. the testing id which can be useful for
36 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 Registration of authorized PERSONA physicians or healthcare workers Registration of individual who would test for the immunity undergoing Immunity test and against respective health storage of immunity test details condition THEME 01 02 INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS RESEARCH NEWSCOPE
03
Checking of Immunity status
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 37 system. These blockchain based certificates would work as international passports to visit foreign countries by eliminating the paperwork and eliminating the risk of infection because of the use of fake certifications. There would no threat to the security of the individual as well as they are tamper proof which ultimately
PERSONA make them ideal for being reliable for considering as entry pass for domestic as well as international travels.
Though there are some challenges in implementation of blockchain based technology as there is resistance by the THEME healthcare workers for the adoption of digital technologies but this can be overcome by proper training and assistance, also the benefits obtained from this technology outweighs the financial investment.
Currently, WHO partners with Estonia in order to support the blockchain INNOVATIONS based immunization certificates. There are certain countries trying to figure out identification purposes. After theThis sort of technology set up eliminates vaccine passports for prevention and establishment of testers at different nodes the need of any trusted third parties. surveillance mechanisms, interestingly of the blockchain, individuals of the With the help of such a blockchain based blockchain fits in providing an effective respective nation needed to be registered immunization certificate system, it would as well as efficient infrastructure for the and provided with a unique immunization be very convenient to keep track about the same.
WELL-BEING identifier inked with their biometrics. status of vaccination of a particular health These individuals are then tested and their results are stored in a digital format in the blockchain by the corresponding testers along with their validity. These individuals must be provided with a password or QR code that can be used to review the IN FOCUS information stored by the testers, so that they can use the information as per their convenience. At last, there must be an option for the individual to share her immunity certificate with any third person with their consent. RESEARCH
Technology can certainly be useful in order Varsha Prasad is currently to overcome the various challenges that are pusuing PGDHM (Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Hospital associated with the paper-based immunization Administration) from IIHMR, Delhi. She is a trainee with Akhil certificates. Blockchain could be used as a Systems Pvt. Ltd (ASPL). Her NEWSCOPE supportive as well as efficient option to replace areas of intetest lies in Healthcare IT and emerging Digital Health these traditional methods of certification. technogies.
38 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 How can Blockchain help in the
Pharma Sector? PERSONA Kritika Arora, Col Niteesh Kumar, Sneha Khurana, Dr. Reshu Mathur and Dr. Priyanka Gupta THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING
lockchain is a buzzword and this with each visit to the doctor, it is not monitor costs, labour and even waste new technology is maturing day always easy for healthcare providers to emissions at every point in the supply by day. It is amply clear from obtain them. Companies like Patientory, chain. It can also be used to verify the IN FOCUS Bbanking to supply chain; it is ready for Medibloc or Medical chain aim to solve authenticity of products by tracking them disruption. Blockchain technology can this problem with a goal to give patients from their origin source, combating the revolutionise various fields particularly the authority over their entire medical counterfeit drug market that costs 200 in the healthcare sector to bring the history and provide a one stop access for billion dollars in losses to the market change and lead a digital transformation, patients and physicians as well. Blockchain annually. Companies like Chronicled, from medical records to pharmaceutical would not only simplify and make access Block pharma and Modem are already supply chains to smart contracts for more efficient, but inherently bring data working towards more efficient RESEARCH payment distribution, there are plenty of security to this field as well. Blockchain logic solutions. opportunities to leverage this technology. 2. Supply chains 3. Genomic Market Blockchain technology can change the The pharmaceutical industry has one Companies like Encrypgen and Nebular healthcare in three ways: - of the highest standards for product Genomics are building Blockchain safety, security and stability vulnerable platforms to enable people to share
1. Health Records to disruption. For example: supply chain genomic data safely and securely in a NEWSCOPE Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are management with the help of blockchain new emerging market. They claim that the backbone of every modern healthcare technology can be monitored securely in future, opportunities around personal system. But as the medical record grows and transparently, reducing time delay genome sequencing will create a data longer and becomes more complex and human error. It can also be used to market with billions of dollars and will be the best technology to solve data security The pharmaceutical industry has one of the issues and to ensure that data gets from the source to its end-user without any highest standards for product safety, security middlemen. and stability vulnerable to disruption.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 39 Underlying Problems in Pharma Industry The market climate is only becoming tougher and more ruthless. Payers of healthcare As per WHO reports, continue to impose further rate controls on the 1.a) One in ten products circulating in low and middle-income countries are providers.
PERSONA either substandard or falsified and in western markets about 1% of all f)1. Issues of management culture slow How can the problem be solved? drugs in circulation are believed to much needed changes be fake. 2. Another ingrained aspect, which Several countries have been working on is difficult to reform in a rush, is a medicine tracking system for years, but 1.b) The global market for fake management culture. The prevailing tracing and authenticating drugs moving drugs is blooming, counterfeit management culture, industry- through the distribution network requires THEME pharmaceuticals are a lucrative sector wide strategies, and mental models an appropriate electronic system. Until with roughly 200 billion euros in on which the sector has become now, serial numbers and barcodes or radio circulation. dependent are more or less identical frequency identification are the basic steps to what it has always relied upon. to verify drugs with the pose-pedigrees 1.c) The rising complexity of supply Despite this fact that newer being another tracking option. However, chains in a globalized world as well methods of doing business today these supply chain solutions are not as the growing number of online and for tomorrow have disrupted interoperable and won’t have a significant pharmacies leveraging the anonymity them. Through the design of their impact on preventing counterfeits and in advantage of the internet surely pharmaceutical website, pharma seo, the end protecting patients. INNOVATIONS contribute to these developments and the development of integrated content experiences, management Blockchain Technology can be used to 1.d) Developing new medications that would need to concentrate on track all transactions of an asset in a can treat (or prevent) the incurable developing better digital experiences distributed ledger of cryptographically illnesses of today for their consumers. secured time -stamped records, thus 1. The most visible obstacle remains enabling the digital transfer of values the greatest one. There are some Therefore, it is a top concern for the -directly and without middlemen.
WELL-BEING new treatments for already incurable pharma industry and health regulators to Blockchain is a decentralized and diseases that Big Pharma has to fight the shady world of the largest fraud transparent system that does not need come up with. Alzheimer's Disease market. trusted third parties such as banks but and multiple cancers continue to be among the list of people that need to make real progress.
IN FOCUS 1.e) Customer standards are constantly increasing 2. The market climate is only becoming tougher and more ruthless. Payers of healthcare continue to impose further rate controls on the providers. Around the same time, they are actively scrutinizing the dollar value RESEARCH provided by individual drugs to their members even more closely than ever before. They expect better medications and therapies that deliver higher benefits at more cost- effective rates than the existing ones. In order to reinforce all arguments
NEWSCOPE made about the supremacy of one medication versus rivals in the region, they often insist on seeing evidence for real world clinical outcomes.
40 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS
establishes trust via secure and traceable Pharmaceutical Supply Chain that the information is timely WELL-BEING transactions with an immutable IT and accurate. The entire supply chain can infrastructure. Also, everybody can The capacity to create an auditable be managed with blockchain technology participate in a peer-to-peer network trail and establish drug provenance with one piece of software shared between ecosystem making faster and cost -saving throughout the entire supply chain is one authorized stakeholders. In addition to dealings possible. of the greatest advantages of blockchain drug manufacturers and their suppliers, technology. A survey conducted by the the data can be accessed by payers, In order to address the counterfeit drug Pistoia Alliance revealed that nearly suppliers, pharmacies, and patients to see
problem caused by insecure supply 70% of pharmaceutical and life science when it is updated in near real-time. IN FOCUS chains, blockchain could work as a drug leaders believe that blockchain will have supply platform with manufacturers the greatest impact in this area. Both Blockchain and Serialization as well as end customers for it’s unique manufacturers and their customers would ability to track pharmaceutical products be able to independently verify the quality Blockchain technology will play a key throughout the whole supply chain by and point of origin of drugs quickly and role in the willingness of the industry ensuring drug identification, tracing and securely with a decentralized blockchain to comply with various regulations on verification, thereby benefits such as trust solution. serialization around the world, including RESEARCH and transparency can be achieved. the U.S. 2013 Protection Act of the For members of the pharmaceutical Drug Supply Chain (DSCSA) and EU E.g. -Cryptotec ensures the authenticity of supply chain, transparency and security Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU drugs from production house to delivery are two other key benefits of blockchain (FMD). Serialization includes the specific of the pharmaceutical product, thus technology. All stakeholders involved in identification, at the level of individual preventing introduction of counterfeit the supply chain must be able to share and units as well as in aggregated packaging products into the market. update information while also ensuring units, of and drug product. It is important to exchange information on the product, NEWSCOPE Blockchain Technology can be used to track all its development (location, date, batch number, etc.), the logistics path, etc., transactions of an asset in a distributed ledger with all supply chain partners involved in of cryptographically secured time -stamped the distribution of the medication to the patient. records, thus enabling the digital transfer of The aim is to make it possible to track values -directly and without middlemen. goods back to their point of origin across
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 41 PERSONA THEME
INNOVATIONS the supply chain. Blockchain technology's patient data to make this approach to as license agreements, and even to make transparency and protection are ideally drug manufacturing more practical. For payments in real time in response to the suited to allowing serialization, not just the determination of the optimal dose recording of milestone achievements. because it allows data exchange, but also and formulation for a given patient, AI Blockchain security and accountability because the records are unchangeable, and ML could be used to analyze this safe could also provide a digital way of which makes regulatory auditing simpler. data and input it into a 3D printer for the protecting documentation of the roots development of a customized drug. of innovation and ensuring the safety of
WELL-BEING Impacts of Manufacturing trade secrets, such as the specifics of the IP and Tech Transfer development process. The development of next-generation, individualized treatments may also be This issue could be resolved by blockchain- Blockchain and partnerships with payers enabled by blockchain technology. The based platforms to manage early-stage Through monitoring forms, negotiating logistics involved in the development technology details. The technology is discounts and rebates, and processing of autologous cell therapies are highly an excellent match for monitoring the and billing prescription drug claims,
IN FOCUS complex and require a chain of work carried out in a network that is usually through electronic channels, identification assurance. The sample decentralized and convoluted. Investors pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) act taken from a patient must be returned will use the platform to identify the as intermediaries between pharmacies, to that patient until transformed into owners of a given technology and drug suppliers and payers. A much more cell therapy. Blockchain technology can create permanent records of any deals effective and transparent solution could help the manufacture of this type of they execute. Smart contracts allowed be provided by Blockchain technology customized product. by blockchain technology, once the that could minimize duplication, underlying binding contract has been alleviate price variations and provide a RESEARCH In a doctor's office or hospital, it can coded, allow the execution of a contract better customer experience. Blockchain also allow 3D printing of personalized without human intervention. technology and intelligent contracts, for drugs.13 One such drug has already example, could accelerate the process of been approved by the FDA: Spritam®, as These smart contracts will allow insurance authorization on the front end approved in 2015, for the treatment of pharmaceutical companies, for the and pace claims processed on the back epilepsy. Better structures are required protection of intellectual property, to end. for handling manufacturing and develop and enforce IP agreements, such Infrastructure Building NEWSCOPE
The technology is an excellent match for One of the key limiting factors for the monitoring the work carried out in a network introduction of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry and other that is decentralized and convoluted. industries is the construction of the
42 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 infrastructure to enable data exchange • Blockchain startup Exochain offers • With blockchain technology, and transaction monitoring through the a way to securely store and manage the entire supply chain can be pharmaceutical production supply chain clinical trial patient data that also managed with one piece of software and the broader healthcare system. allows patients to control how that is shared among authorized PERSONA researchers may interact with their stakeholders. The development of applications that medical data. can exploit blockchain technology is the The benefits of incorporating blockchain priority of all major application software • Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) has technologies to enhance the protection of companies and many new start-ups. partnered with IBM to test the ability the supply chain, promote clinical trials, Acceptance of data exchange must be of the latter’s blockchain platform to and improve patient data management realized in addition to the implementation “improve trust, transparency, patient effectiveness are obvious. Of course, of these physical networks, which will safety and patient empowerment some degree of danger comes with the THEME involve cooperation and demonstration in clinical trials” by improving introduction of every new technology. of the protection and privacy features of the management of clinical trial While blockchain technology is attractive blockchain solutions. processes and records. because it guarantees confidentiality, it is not possible to completely remove or • Novartis is using blockchain • Recently, IBM announced that it is ignore the risk of data breaches or system
technology and the IoT to identify working with KPMG, Merck and failures. Scalability is also a concern which INNOVATIONS counterfeit medicines and track Walmart to develop a pharmaceutical has yet to be tackled. temperature with real-time visibility blockchain platform that can track for all participants in the supply drugs as they move through the chain. global supply chain. Kritika Arora, Col Niteesh Kumar and Sneha Khurana are associated • Merck recently garnered a blockchain • MediLedger, which has over 20 with International institute of patent on its own covering technology members, including Pfizer, Amgen health management Research, Delhi for preventing counterfeit drugs by and Gilead. The goal is to leverage (IIHMR). WELL-BEING increasing supply chain security. blockchain’s capabilities to create an interoperable system in which multiple • In a combined effort, Pfizer, Amgen parties, including manufacturers, and Sanofi are investigating the use of wholesale distributors, hospitals Dr. Reshu Mathur and Dr. Priyanka blockchain technology to safely store and pharmacies can register, Gupta are associated with patient health data to speed clinical verify and transfer pharmaceutical International institute of health trials and lower drug development products with absolute trust in their management Research, Delhi costs. authenticity and provenance. IN FOCUS (IIHMR).
Advertise with InnoHEALTH magazine
Online editions RESEARCH
ADVERTISE ON POST SPONSORED WEBSITE CONTENT ON WEBSITE o o o o n o on no
n o n on n n n o o on on o NEWSCOPE on o Rate card Rate card innohealthmagazine.com/advertise/ innohealthmagazine.com/advertise/sponsored- website-advertisement-rate-card content-rate-card
n nno o o
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 43 Are our sportspersons over exhausted? The increasing case of
PERSONA Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
he lethal cardiovascular disease Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) eventually manifest them to improve the that is now omnipresent in young is the most common cause of SCD in stroke volume, reflexes that invariably athletes poses a complex dilemma athletes younger than 35 years of age. enhance their performance. Tregarding sportsperson safety, patient autonomy, team or institutional risk The people associated with any sports Greater left ventricular (LV) wall RESEARCH tolerance and medical decision-making. usually perform intensive and regular thickness is seen more compared to exercise to maintain their fitness and they sedentary controls in nearly one-fifth The goodness of regular exercise on thereby develop a variety of electrical of young athletes (aged between 14–35 cardiovascular health and all-cause and structural cardiac adaptations that years). mortality are well established.However, the recent studies have demonstrated that The people associated with any sports usually nearly threefold increased risk of sudden perform intensive and regular exercise to maintain cardiac death (SCD) is found in young NEWSCOPE athletes with underlying cardiovascular their fitness and they thereby develop a variety of conditions when compared to sedentary individuals. electrical and structural cardiac adaptations.
44 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 PERSONA THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING The usual cause for tiredness are iron The healthcare system should be Proposed hierarchical model as an deficiency, viral infections, asthma- upgraded and an expert technical team approach to developing dedicated like conditions, medication, mood pertaining to developing advanced HCM- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) disturbance and endocrine conditions specific cardiac imaging, interpretative programmes, with components and such as PCOS or RED-S and the non- echocardiography and cardiovascular treatment options arranged with respect medical causes causes of tiredness in the magnetic resonance need to be made. to initial priority. AF, atrial fibrillation; athlete are an inappropriate training plan, Another important initiatives involve ASA, alcohol septal ablation; CMR, poor sleep, lifestyle stressors, inadequate access to adequate numbers of trained cardiovascular magnetic resonance; ICD, IN FOCUS macronutrient intake and suboptimal medical and paramedical personnel to implantable cardioverter defibrillator; SD, hydration. support expanding defibrillator implant sudden death. Apart from this, nutrition plays an programmes, as well as the identification important part in the life of a sportsperson. of surgeons experienced in septal Though slowly but steadily the HCM As these patients are considered to be at myectomy. With the increase in impact of is causing a lot of havoc in the present high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) advanced heart failure and the option of healthcare system.The latest data showed during exercise hence it is kind of reserved transplant now we have greater relevance a steep increase in the number of deaths of for them and hence sedentary lifestyle is to the multidisciplinary approach for sportspeople and in certain cases they are RESEARCH advisable to them. HCM. restricted to sedentary lifestyles.
In India the need for contemporary In terms of priority the standard According to a new research from the public and physician awareness towards imagining and clinical evaluation has University of British Columbia, Canada, the broad spectrum of HCM should more importance than laboratory-based gives us the study that even the fittest be developed through the training and genetic testing for HCM management. among the sportsperson are not immune educational mode. to cardiovascular disease — and they NEWSCOPE often don’t have any symptoms. Another study published recently in British medical journal Open Sport and Exercise The latest data showed a steep increase in Medicine, highlights the importance for middle-aged athletes to have their the number of deaths of sportspeople and in doctor check their cardiovascular risk certain cases they are restricted to sedentary factors,when high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes are prevalent in lifestyles. their family history of cardiovascular disease.
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 45 PERSONA THEME
The inherited condition of familial density lipoproteins (LDLs, legendary deciding in areas of exercise prescription, INNOVATIONS hypercholesterolemia is a condition that ordinarily as unhealthy cholesterol), that play a pivotal measure and therefore are is characterised by very high levels of square measure the first carriers of sterol essential to boost the standard of life and cholesterol present in the blood. within the blood. By removing LDLs survival of patients with HCM. from the blood, these receptors play an Cholesterol, a waxy, fat-like substance essential role in controlling sterol levels. created within the body and obtained Some LDLR sequence mutations scale from foods that return from animals back the quantity of LDL receptors made
WELL-BEING (particularly egg yolks, meat, poultry, fish inside cells. and farm products), is needed by the body to form cell membranes, bound hormones Less ordinarily, hypercholesterolemia and compounds that aid in fat digestion. is caused by mutations within the In individuals with monogenic disorder, APOB or PCSK9 sequence. Proteins the body is unable to induce additional made from these genes square measure sterol, and it builds up within the blood. essential for the traditional performance
IN FOCUS The surplus sterol is deposited on the inner of LDL receptors. Mutations in any of walls of blood vessels, notably the arteries those genes forestall cells from creating that offer blood to the guts (coronary useful receptors or alter the receptors arteries), forming clumps (plaques) that performance.Hypercholesterolemia slender and harden artery walls. because results once beta-lipoprotein receptors the plaques get larger, they will clog the falters to measure and are unable to get arteries and prohibit flow of blood to the rid of sterol from the blood effectively. guts. The build-up of plaques in coronary High LDLs within the blood creates risk RESEARCH arteries causes a style of pain referred to as of heart diseases at a younger age. As of angina and greatly will increase a person’s now only statins are given to control the risk of getting a coronary failure. situation and if genetic default is there then only the beta- blocker injections are Familial hypercholesterolemia is of temporary remedy. There are presently sometimes caused by mutations in 3 genes no medical interventions that alter the Dr. Debleena Bhattacharya is the — LDLR, APOB or PCSK9. Changes within natural course of HCM, however myosin Associate Editor of InnoHEALTH the LDLR sequence is the measure for the inhibitors have shown potential promise. magazine and working as an NEWSCOPE foremost common reason behind this Gene-silencing with CRISPR/Cas9 gene- Assistant Professor in Marwadi condition. The LDLR sequence provides editing technology might sometimes play University,Gujarat. Her area of interest directions for creating a macromolecule a job within the hindrance of malady lies in Environmental Biotechnology known as LDL receptor. This kind of development before the intervention of focusing on wastewater treatment. receptor binds to particles known as low- clinical manifestations.Till then the shared
46 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 NEWSCOPE PERSONA LATEST NEWS IN HEALTHCARE BHARAT BIOTECH’S INTRANASAL VACCINE PHASE 1 TRIALS COMMENCE After being one of the few worthy vaccine candidates, Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech has made its next big move THEME by entering as intranasal vaccine into the Phase 1 of human clinical trials. Though it would be quicker and also easier to administer, we will have to wait and weigh if it poses any adverse reactions to the administered person. If not, it would be a great way to quickly tackle the increasing numbers. INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS
harat Biotech has codenamed it’s Apollo Specialty Hospital at Chennai group 35 volunteers will get two doses intranasal vaccine as BBV154, will be conducting the vaccine trials, as of the placebo (a substance that has no and have commenced its human per the CTRI (Clinical Trials Registry- therapeutic value). RESEARCH Bclinical trials at some of the selected sites India) website. While the institutional that include Hyderabad and Nagpur. ethics committees of the Hyderabad, The company will conduct an interim Nagpur and Patna hospitals have already analysis on day 42 after the administration The trials of the chimpanzee adenovirus approved the trials, the Chennai hospital of the first dose to ascertain the vaccine’s vectored vaccine candidate, being is still awaiting the ethics committee nod. immunogenicity and safety before developed in collaboration with the submitting the data to the CDSCO Washington University School of As part of the randomised, double- (Central Drugs Standard Control NEWSCOPE Medicine at St Louis (WashU), are to be blinded trial to evaluate the reactogenicity, Organisation). conducted on 175 healthy volunteers safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine aged between 18-60 years at four sites – candidate, the volunteers will be divided Bharat Biotech plans to produce 1 billion Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patna and Chennai. into three groups. In the first group, 70 doses of the non-invasive, vaccine, which volunteers will be administered a single is being touted as a game changer as it Apart from the Hyderabad hospital, dose of the vaccine followed by a placebo will not only be quicker but also easier to the Gillurkar Multispeciality hospital at after 28 days. In the second group 70 administer. Nagpur, All India Institute of Medical volunteers will be given two doses of the SOURCE: www.health.economictimes. Sciences (AIIMS) at Patna and the vaccine 28 days apart and in the third indiatimes.com/news
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 47 A HIGH-LEVEL CENTRAL TEAM LED BY NATIONAL CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL TO REVIEW MEDICAL CARE AND PUBLIC HEALTH ARRANGEMENTS FOR KUMBH MELA Kumbh Mela being the biggest pilgrimage destination in Hinduism registers thousand of devotees from around the country. All the people attending the Kumbh Mela this year will have to follow the guidelines issued by the
PERSONA government and any violation of which would be liable for legal actions. Owing to the ongoing pandemic, social distancing and proper sanitation would be a huge concern for such a mass scale gathering. But as it’s said, crisis leads to opportunities, this on the other hand, poses a huge opportunity for the startups who are developing or have developed solutions for coping with sanitisation, tracking etc. THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING IN FOCUS n view of the large crowd that need to carry negative RT-PCR Covid-19 rate to 96.22% in Uttarakhand. Till gathered on the first shahi snan on test reports or not. Monday, the state had 581 active cases. Maha Shivaratri (March 11), the Icentral government has now deployed a Meanwhile on Monday, 60 fresh Covid-19 According to the official data, the state, till high-level team led by National Centre cases were recorded in Uttarakhand. Monday, had managed to fully vaccinate for Disease Control director Dr SK The cumulative Covid-19 cases tally 95,093 people for Covid-19 and more than Singh to review the Covid-19 situation in now stands at 97,866 in the state. Also, 1.11 lakh elderly people have been given RESEARCH Haridwar. the death of a 58-year-old man at Shri the first dose of vaccination. On Monday, Mahant Indiresh Hospital pushed the Bishan Singh Chuphal, newly-appointed The team will focus on the status of toll of the virus to 1,704. Among the new cabinet minister from Pithoragarh, also implementation of Covid-related SOPs for cases, the maximum of 35 were recorded took the first dose of Covid-19 vaccination the Kumbh Mela. The health authorities, in Dehradun, followed by 10 in Haridwar, at Government Doon Medical College while speaking to media persons on seven in Nainital, four in Udham Singh and Hospital. Monday, said that the team will inspect Nagar, and two each in Tehri and Pauri whether the recommendations given to districts. NEWSCOPE the state are being implemented or not. According to the health staff, there is still On Monday, 86 patients recovered from SOURCE: www.timesofindia.indiatimes. uncertainty as to whether the devotees will Covid-19 infection, taking the recovery com
48 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 COVID-19: FELUDA TEST KIT TWEAKED TO DETECT MUTATED VARIANTS QUICKLY With the rise in the covid positive cases across the world, it has become an utmost concern to detect and test the
masses for any of the three new variants. As this new test will make detecting the new variants simpler, would this PERSONA eliminate the need for complete genetic sequencing for diagnosis, which raises the cost manifold and takes about three days. Can it be tweaked even further for any possible mutation or new variant that might be on its way? If so, this could be the boon for the medical industry in the fight against covid. THEME INNOVATIONS WELL-BEING
esearchers from the Institute of new variants simpler and eliminate the machine. The Feluda (FnCas9 Editor Genomics and Integrative Biology, need for complete genetic sequencing for Linked Uniform Detection Assay) test New Delhi, have modified their diagnosis, which raises the cost manifold then uses a paper strip barcoded with the Rgene-editing technology-based Feluda and takes about three days,” said Dr Cas9 protein to recognise specific portions paper-strip diagnostic kit in such a Debojyoti Chakraborty, senior scientist at of the genetic material of the Sars-CoV-2 IN FOCUS manner that a simple polymerase chain IGIB and part of the team that developed virus to give a positive result. reaction (PCR) test can be used to detect both the tests. mutated variants of the Sars-CoV-2 For Ray, the scientists have encoded the virus that causes coronavirus disease He added, “This does not mean we can Cas9 protein to recognise the N501Y (Covid-19), said the institute. stop sequencing the viral genome. We will mutation, which is present in all the three still have to sequence a proportion of our new variants of concern. “In theory, the After naming their first kit after the positive samples to detect whether new Cas9 protein can be encoded to recognise famous fictional Bengali detective, the mutations are arising or any imported any number of mutations as and when RESEARCH researchers have named the second one mutations are in circulation. Used along they arise. The high specificity of the Ray (Rapid variant AssaY) after the author with the Feluda strip, this test will just Cas9 can be utilised to detect any point of the detective series, Satyajit Ray. help in diagnosing whether a particular mismatch in the viral genome,” said Dr person has the mutated variant or not.” Chakraborty. At present, to detect the UK, South Africa, “This does not mean we can stop or Brazilian variants, the entire virus sequencing the viral genome. We will The lab is currently in talks with the genome has to be sequenced to look for still have to sequence a proportion of our industry to market the product. Tata NEWSCOPE specific mutations. This, however, adds positive samples to detect whether new Sons had manufactured and marketed the cost and time to the process -- three days mutations are arising or any imported initial Feluda test kits. The cost of the Ray in comparison to a few hours it takes to mutations are in circulation. Used along test is likely to be the same as Feluda. The do a PCR. with the Feluda strip, this test will just scientists had earlier said that the lab cost help in diagnosing whether a particular of the test came up to ₹500 per sample, “We have developed the Feluda platform person has the mutated variant or not.” but the final cost decision depends on the to come up with a test that can tell us in company marketing it. a few hours whether an infected person Once a swab sample from the patient is has any of the three new variants of collected, the viral RNA is extracted from concern. This will make detecting the it and amplified using a thermo-cycler SOURCE: www.hindustantimes.com
Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 49 FDA AUTHORISES FIRST ML-BASED COVID-19 NON-DIAGNOSTIC SCREENING DEVICE – UK TO DEVELOP FAST TEST FOR COVID-19
PERSONA VARIANTS
With the increasing application of emerging technologies like AI in healthcare, better care outcomes can be achieved in more efficient and timely fashion. This displays a great example of how this pandemic has fast forwarded the behaviour change and that the world is now even more ready and committed to support innovative ways to fight this deadly pandemic.
he US Food and Drug asymptomatic individuals over the age of 5. The UK government is currently THEME Administration (FDA) has granted developing a test genotype assay test, emergency use authorization Stimdia Medical, a company that which will be able to detect Covid-19 T(EUA) to the first machine learning- specialises in the development of lung variants of concerns from coronavirus based Covid-19 non-diagnostic screening pacing devices, has received FDA’s approval test samples. According to the UK device. The Tiger Tech COVID Plus for its pdSTIM system. The Breakthrough government’s health ministry, the test is Monitor is an armband with embedded Device designation allows the device to be expected to halve the time required to
INNOVATIONS light sensors and a small computer used to treat difficult conditions and gain detect Covid-19 variants and will be used processor which identifies biomarkers regular access and priority to the FDA. alongside standard testing to identify that are typical to conditions like The system can be used in treating high cases more rapidly, thereby curbing the hypercoagulation or blood clotting. It will risk Covid patients, to recondition the virus spread and easing restrictions. be used by trained personnel to prevent diaphragm and strengthen the primary exposure and spread of the virus. The muscle used in respiration. The device device identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is expected to reduce weaning time for SOURCE: www.medicaldevice-network. along with other conditions and allergies in patients on mechanical ventilation. com WELL-BEING
DOORDASH, VAULT HEALTH AND EVERLYWELL COLLABORATE FOR ON-DEMAND DELIVERY OF COVID-19 PCR TEST COLLECTION
IN FOCUS KITS – TATAMD AND ANDERSON DIAGNOSTIC LABS PARTNER TO DETECT COVID-19 VARIANTS The US has probably been the most affected nations in this pandemic. And probably the fastest one to adopt the innovations around the fight against the pandemic. Owing to the situation, new partnerships are paving way for the consumers in the USA to get the same-day delivery of FDA Authorized COVID-19 test collection kits. This should help rectify the situation a bit since the early and easy detection could lead to faster tackling and in turn lesser affected RESEARCH individuals. But only time will tell how much the adoption and penetration rate is.
oorDash has collaborated with kit. The test kit has been approved by certainty of a pump to deliver these Vault Health and Everlywell to the Indian Council of Medical Research treatments. The device secures to the drip deliver same-day Covid-19 PCR (ICMR), and has already conducted more chamber of an IV set and counts drops Dtest collection kits to consumers across than 10,000 tests. It is being looked at as with 99% accuracy using an infrared
NEWSCOPE the US. The collaboration facilitates an alternative to RT-PCR tests. sensor. It operates continuously for 270 consumers’ access to two FDA- approved hours on a single AA battery, viable for Covid-19 home collection kits through Monoclonal antibodies have been making emergency use such as a power outage on-demand delivery from DoorDash’s headlines since Eli Lilly‘s Bamlanivimab or pump shortage, and in austere/pop-up DashMart locations. and Regeneron‘s Casirivimab/Imdevimab medical clinics. received EUA to treat mild-moderate Tata Medical and Diagnostics (TataMD) COVID-19 in November 2020. The SOURCE: www.medicaldevice-network. and Anderson Diagnostic Labs have DripAssist Supplemental Infusion Rate com partnered to detect Covid-19 variants Monitor, a test developed by Hometa, from the UK, Brazil, and South Africa provides a middle ground between the Compiled by: with the TataMD CHECK diagnostic simplicity of gravity infusion, and the Parthvee Jain, Editor, InnoHEALTH Magazine
50 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 We at InnoHEALTH Magazine would like to dedicate a section to innovation success and failure stories
In this regard, we request you to share your ourney in about words.
Mail your stories to [email protected]
Special meeting on Join how to apply for Seventh Virtual startup funding Club meeting
Dr. Sanjay Saxena General Manager and Head of Investment BIRAC
May 8, 2021 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm (IST) Express interest
bit.ly/31hVBi4
Contact us Sanjay Gaur +91 9711777328 [email protected] BOOK REVIEW
Reviewed by Sachin Gaur Executive Editor InnoHEALTH Magazine
hen I saw the campaign about the upcoming book of Mr Bill Gates about Climate Change, WI could not resist pre-ordering it. When the book arrived at my home on 17 Feb (it was launched on 16 Feb), I took to it like the sponge absorbs the water. The book is easy to read and could be finished by a seasoned reader in a day or two. Mr Bill Gates has made it very palatable, a topic which is otherwise not so accessible. The key number from the book is fifty one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that we produce in a year and the approach by which we can reverse and minimize this carbon footprint.
If you are someone looking for a hard problem to solve in your career, this book is a good starting point. As humanity, climate disaster is the next big thing we are staring at. While this book raises difficult questions it does not provide much answers. Maybe, we do not have the answers and still need to be discovered. I bought the book with an expectation that I will find some interesting innovative solutions addressing the climate change problem but I was left wanting! Having said that the book still empowers me to understand the problem a bit better and orients me to build a meaningful conversation and hopefully search for answers that can make a difference. The debate for climate change, green energy is everywhere, if you don’t want to be carried away in such discussions but rather shape I wish if Mr Gates can convert discuss the problem but also the debate and be part of the solution then this book to a community where catalogue their experiences this book is for you! readers can come and not just and share solutions.
52 Volume 6 | Issue 3 | May - June 2021 C o o C A not or ro it initiati e
About Membership details T e I Inno ator L i reated or T e e er i or t e I inno ator and it i ion i to ort Inno ator L i o en or indi id a , t e gro t o it e er in t eir ro e organi ation and in tit tion in a a inno ator , ain t ro g ot physical and virtual formats ed ation, o a and g o a net or ing, Ent ia t an i t e or a ai a e and trategi a ian e and artner i at www.bit.ly/ic-club-membership
Benefits To en o rage t e no edge di e ination it in t e ea t are o nit , e are ro iding t e o o ing ene it to t e e er o t e
Free access to theme based bimonthly club meetings
Upto 50% discount on conference/ master class tickets prices
Complimentary InnoHEALTH magazine digital format yearly subscription
Free access to embassy meeting and foreign delegation visits
Exclusive perks with respect to B2B and B2G meetings
Associated institutional members
nno o o n nno o InnovatioCuris
Finding methods, tools and techniques to deliver qualitative healthcare at optimum cost at all levels
Our activities include
InnoHEALTH Market access Quarterly magazine
innohealthmagazine.com innovatiocuris.com/market-access
Training VIRTUAL EVENT & Consulting as a SERVICE
innovatiocuris.com/training-and-consulting innovatiocuris.com/veaas
Our activities include
InnoHEALTH Annual international healthcare conference innohealth.in
IC InnovatorCLUB Fostering innovations InnovatioCuris icfhe.in/icinnovatorclub Foundation of Webinars Healthcare icfhe.in/webinars & Excellence
(not-for-profit) InnoBRIDGE icfhe.in/innobridge
Experiments with sugar experimentswithsugar.in
www.innovatiocuris.com [email protected] (+91) 120-427-4630
Connect with us
nno o nno o nno o nno o n nno o