A major reason why over 60,000 women in the country lose their lives to Cervical Cancer is because of late detection of Cancer. Women are reluctant to undertake a sample collection process at the hospital
This will hopefully change with the new innovation that has been made by a city-based startup named Pragmatech Healthcare Solutions. The business was initiated by Anirban Palit, Sayantani Pramanik, Palna Patel, and Bhagirath Modi. The invention of the self-sampling kit is called “Cervicheck”
This innovation allows women to conduct sample checking in the comfort of their homes. It can be used in any place- home of the women, camps, or similar settings to screen women for the virus that is responsible for more than 95% of cases, named Human Papillomavirus
A dedicated team consisting of the aforementioned four is what has led to this indigenous discovery. Pramanik has experience in the Research and Development of leading pharma companies in the country. Patel is an eminent lawyer and social woker. Palit has experience of about a decade in the in vitro diagnosis (IVD) industry, while Bhagirath Modi is a veteran gynecologist.
Palit shared that besides testing for HPV in women, the self-sampling kits could also be used to collect samples for future testing. This would be a helpful discovery as many women don’t return for triage tests if they are found positive for HPV. But, now triage tests could be easily conducted.
Patel correctly said that this innovation will help eradicate embarrassment attached to this whole process, as now women will be able to collect the samples as and when they are comfortable. Their startup is collaborating with a laboratory for the purpose of doorstep collection of samples and their testing
The venture was funded from various grants including Rs20 lakh from the HDFC Smart-up CSR Grant, and 30 lakh from the Venture Center at Pune among others besides the 15 lakh they bootstrapped.
The kit is the first natively developed kit in India that has been approved by the CDSCO- Central Drugs Standard Control Organization for ap ivotal clinical evaluation. The trials of the kit are supposed to get done by July and the kit is to be launched by January next year.
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