How established is the interventional oncology (IO) assistance solution business in India? What opportunities do you foresee in this field?
IO assistance solutions business is fairly nascent in India. Up until now there was no technology that translates a target area (tumour/lesion) as seen on an imaging modality into physical coordinates for needle positioning. Hence, majority of the interventions today are done using methods like fluoroscopy, blind (unassisted) targetting etc.
These methods have their own limitations which include prolonged exposure of patients and doctor to harmful radiation, repeated punctures and pain for the patient, longer procedure times due to multiple check scans and resulting patient discomfort.
India has a massive cancer burden today, with over a million reported cases. Close to 65 per cent of patients diagnosed with cancer today die. This is extremely high considering the fact that cancer is curable, if diagnosed at an early stage. The high mortality rate is partly due to the fact that early diagnosis and treatment is not available to a large majority of population.
Perfint’s robotic IO assistance products facilitate early diagnosis and treatment by providing accurate needle localisation even for ‘difficult to access’ small tumours which are deep-seated in the body.
What are the challenges associated with this market?
The cost of entering any new market is very high, regardless of the actual business opportunity in the market. Every country/ region has its own regulatory/device registration requirement. While regions like EU have a uniform standard (CE certification), countries in the APAC, MENA and CALA regions have their own regulatory requirements. This means that even to tap a relatively nascent market we have to incur a massive expense in order to obtain the necessary regulatory registrations and clearances. A uniform standard like the CE mark in these regions will go a long way in reducing the entry barriers for path breaking technologies reaching these markets.
Tell us about Perfint Healthcare’s journey in this field. Tell us about your reach in the global market as well as the domestic market.
Perfint Healthcare is in the business of interventional oncology assistance solutions with an emphasis on emerging society needs, while being relevant in advanced societies. We launched our first commercial offering in 2009 which was called ‘PIGA CT’. Perfint firmly believes in co-creating products with our customers. Based on the feedback we received for PIGA-CT from international customers, Perfint has launched its next generation robotic targeting systems (ROBIO) for image-guided cancer care and pain-care. Perfint’s products have been installed in top hospitals and diagnostic centres in India, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. As it expands beyond Asia to other markets like EU, China and the Americas, Perfint is also working on a sector defining integrated planning, execution and verification system for tumour ablations.
Tell us about your recently launched next generation robotic targeting systems (ROBIO) for image guided cancer care and pain-care. How far will ROBIO help in transforming cancer care in India?
ROBIO with its accurate robotic assistance for doing image guided interventions has the potential to become the preferred mode of doing CT guided percutaneous interventions. The key benefits of this system are as below.
1. accurate needle placement
2. less pain and fewer punctures for the patient
3. less exposure to radiation both for the patient and the doctor
4. drastically reduced procedure time allows doctors to do more procedures
5. early diagnosis will be possible as doctors are able to reach previously inaccessible small tumours
Is this a first-of-its-kind system launched in India? If no, which is the other one?
This is a first of its kind product for doing CT guided interventions in India.
Have you installed this system in any hospitals yet? If yes, which hospitals?
We are present in all the major speciality oncology hospitals in India. In addition to this, ROBIO is now gaining acceptance in diagnostic centres and smaller hospitals as well. We are proud to share that in a relatively small time-frame we have achieved the distinction of having the ‘World’s Largest Install Base of IO Targeting Devices.’ Today our products are installed in 100+ locations across the globe. We are proud to state that we are one of the very few Indian medical devices companies making a mark on the global stage.
Tell us about Perfint Healthcare’s other products profile?
Perfint today has three products out in the market
1. PIGA CT – First robotic platform for doing CT guided procedures. Tried and tested platform which has the largest install base.
2. ROBIO EZ – Next generation solution with improved ergonomics and compact design. With this product even diagnostic imaging centers can start doing interventions and pain care procedures, giving wider access to early diagnosis of cancer and pain relief to a larger population.
3. ROBIO EX – Can work with PET CT in addition to regular CT scanners . This product is an ideal solution for large hospitals who are at the cutting edge of their field and require the best possible solution for doing IO procedures.
Is robotics the only field that Perfint Healthcare deals in?
Currently, we are dealing in robotic solutions for IO assistance. We intend to remain on the cutting edge of interventional oncology, coming up with new and innovative ways of fighting cancer. Future products may or may not be ROBOTS but they will surely be in the field of interventional oncology as per our long-term product development strategy.
What is your current market share in India?
Currently, we don’t have any direct competition in India in this field. Although globally there are smaller companies who have solutions which are intended for IO assistance.
Robotics as a concept has received mixed reactions within the healthcare providers in terms of its cost effectiveness as well as the ROI. What is your opinion in this regard?
Being an Indian company we have learned and implemented the concept of frugal innovation. Unlike other companies who have introduced robotics in healthcare we have engineered our offerings for the emerging markets keeping in mind special needs of these markets for affordable and relatively easy to use technology.
Our goal has always been to save more lives by engineering innovative technological solutions that make economic sense for healthcare providers to offer early diagnosis and treatment to the society at large.