WRITTEN BY
WRITTEN BY
How we’re collaborating with non-traditional partners to develop innovative solutions to today’s healthcare challenges
Nick Passey and Anil Kukreja look at how our India health innovation hub is collaborating with leading start ups to address areas of unmet need and develop patient-centric solutions that are accessible and affordable.
From collaboration comes innovation – breakthrough ideas that challenge conventional thinking, push the boundaries of science and help us make a difference to our patients.
Through our A.Catalyst Network, a global network of more than 20 of our health innovation hubs, we bring together diverse collaborators to forge non-traditional partnerships worldwide.
The network aims to address global healthcare challenges, increase affordable and equitable access to healthcare, and scale and showcase patient‑enabled innovation.
With these ambitions in mind, India is emerging as a top location for technology start-ups, attracting innovators and investors from all over the globe. Now the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world, there are currently more than 63,100 recognised start-up companies operating across the country. Moving forward, estimates suggest that the Indian health tech market will reach $5bn USD by 2023, and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 39%, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date, our India health innovation hub, which was established in 2019 in partnership with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi and Jodhpur, has already partnered with 27 start ups to help us transform outcomes for our patients.
Leveraging innovation to revolutionise heart and lung screening
There is an urgent need to bridge the gaps in existing healthcare infrastructures and ensure that support reaches underserved communities. To address this, our India hub, in partnership with Tricog, a start-up and medical technology manufacturer, implemented Project Heart Beat – an initiative which has had such a positive impact that it has already been replicated in Argentina, Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt and the Philippines.
With Project Heart Beat, Tricog’s InstaECG machine enables local healthcare professionals to take electrocardiograms (ECGs) and upload them to the cloud, where the data are interpreted by specialists using a purpose-built app. If the screening process confirms the diagnosis of a myocardial infarction, the patient is directed to a suitable health facility for treatment.
On average, detection using this technology takes just three minutes, and has helped physicians at poorly equipped primary healthcare centres to correctly diagnose over 17,000 patients – with a total of 9,000 cases of myocardial infarction identified and referred to tertiary care centres for appropriate intervention by cardiologists in 2021.
Project Heart Beat’s collaboration with AstraZeneca brought state-of-the-art medical innovation and our advanced artificial intelligence technology onto a single platform. It is a privilege to work with AstraZeneca’s team on our journey towards saving a million lives.
Many of our hubs across the network have been collaborating with Qure.ai, which specialises in artificial intelligence (AI) based medical imaging, to detect lung diseases earlier using AI technology. A successful initiative established by the India hub in collaboration with Qure.ai and the health technology start-up Predible has been E.N.D (Early Nodule Detection) Lung Cancer. Using Qure.ai’s AI-based solution, qXR, pulmonologists can screen chest X-rays for indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs), which can be indicative of lung cancer, and refer any suspicious cases for further computed tomography (CT) scans within the same centre. Predible’s AI-based technology, LungIQ, further examines the CT scan to identify whether the nodule is benign or caused by lung cancer or tuberculosis. The patient is then referred to an oncologist as needed, where a biopsy will determine the diagnosis, including the type and stage of lung cancer.
Combining X-rays and CT scans in this way allows for early detection and timely intervention in lung cancer and reduces the burden on hospitals at the door while limiting patient wait times. Thus, as part of E.N.D Lung Cancer, the aim is to deploy the AI‑based solutions in the top 60 Indian tertiary and regional cancer care centres by 2024 to maximise the benefits of early detection of lung cancer.
In addition, along with many other flagship digital programmes that we are co‑pioneering globally, we recently announced our commitment to join the World Economic Forum (WEF) EDISON Alliance – a partnership that aims to improve the lives of one billion people by 2025 through digital inclusion. As part of the WEF EDISON Alliance’s 1 Billion Lives Challenge, we have committed to screening five million patients by 2025 through our partnership with Qure.ai.
Qure.ai aims to make healthcare accessible and equitable for everyone. The partnership between Qure.ai and AstraZeneca is helping to harness and scale-up the use of our AI based solution to improve early-stage detection of lung cancer, reduce mortality rates and enhance patient outcomes, not just in India but eventually across the world.
India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre
To accelerate the uptake of innovative healthcare solutions in clinics and hospitals across India, we have also established the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre – a collaboration between the Swedish Trade Commissioner’s office, AIIMS New Delhi and AIIMS Jodhpur. The centre aims to make healthcare more accessible, affordable and patient-centric, and to provide a platform for Indian and foreign innovators to work side by side with leading doctors to ensure their solutions are suited to real-world medical settings.
Global Innovation and Technology Centre
The India hub is also piloting new solutions developed by our Global Innovation and Technology Centre (GITC) in Chennai. One of the largest technology centres across the life sciences industry in the country, GITC aims to bring technology, innovation and people to the forefront in order to advance our science, anticipate patient needs and drive us towards a digitally enabled future.
GITC is playing an increasingly critical role in leading innovation. I am looking forward to taking the collaboration between GITC and the India hub to the next level – to leverage the power of India’s thriving ecosystem for the ultimate benefit of our patients.
The success stories from our India innovation hub are a testament to what can be achieved through cutting-edge solutions facilitated by impactful partnerships. I’m very excited about the hub’s potential to help shape a future where everyone has access to affordable, equitable and sustainable healthcare.
Realising our vision
Our ultimate aim is to strengthen and future-proof health systems across the whole patient journey, ensuring everyone has equitable and affordable access to the life-changing healthcare solutions they need, regardless of where they live. But as the India hub demonstrates, innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. By collaborating with start-ups to create sustainable cutting-edge solutions and unlock the power of what science can do, we can work towards our vision of establishing integrated healthcare systems worldwide and transforming patient outcomes globally.
If you share our ambition to shape the future of healthcare through innovation, then we want to hear from you. Whether you’re a start-up, academic organisation or large company, apply to become our next partner on our A.Catalyst Network Portal.