Technology

Innovative Computer-Aided Catheter Reprocessing System (CRS) For Cleaning Catheters Developed By Chandigarh Biomedical Engineer

Having developed an innovative computer-aided Catheter Reprocessing System (CRS) for cleaning catheters, 27-year-old citybased biomedical engineer Vikram Goel has won the DST-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) 2016, which was recently conducted in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, in New Delhi.

Talking about the CRS machine developed by him, which intends to replace the conventional method for cleaning of catheters, Goel told Chandigarh Newsline, “The machine is fully automatic, and also adopts a stringent cleaning process for removal of microbes and antigen for each catheter. The CRS also takes care of everything. Using this machine, catheters can be attached with the press of a single button, thus eliminating the need for any human intervention.”

The CRS machine developed by Goel had also won the award for the Best Medical Innovative Product for 2016 at the 22nd International Medical Fair held in Mumbai earlier this year. Not only this, Goel was also awarded the Young Innovator Award 2016 by PGIMER for his project. Having developed the fully automatic catheter reprocessor, Goel has now also applied to patent the system under his name. Prior to this, he has also worked on several projects for making healthcare more accessible and cheaper. His other achievements include developing a helium compressor and coldhead monitoring device for MRI systems, advanced in-house repair of medical devices and a digital safety cane for visually impaired people.

Goel now intends to start a company for production of the CRS machine, in line with the Make In India campaign. “At the investor meet in US, I will now be convincing potential investors to fund my project so that I can start production for this machine. The idea is to facilitate healthcare and make it more affordable.”

With an intention to make healthcare more accessible, Goel, who currently works as a senior biomedical engineer at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, developed the CRS machine which is likely to reduce the treatment cost for cardiovascular diseases by up to 55 per cent. Saving Rs 526 per catheter and reducing the catheter replacement process by 80 per cent, the CRS was awarded with the Innovation Award at IIGP 2016, along with 30 other innovators from across India.

Having won the project, which is also along the lines of PM Narendra Modi’s Make In India campaign and Swach Bharat Abhiyaan, Goel will now be participating in a leadership programme for innovative business development methods sponsored by Stanford University in the Silicon Valley in the USA. This year, the Indian delegation will be led by PM Modi.

(Ref: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/fordeveloping-machine-to-clean-catheters-chandigarh-biomedicalengineer-wins-award-iigp-2836731/)

India’s New IPR Policy Looking To Spur Innovation In Med-Tech Sector

The med-tech industry, both domestic and international, has generally welcomed India’s new intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, in large part due to the fact that it has something for everybody, from industry to public health policy makers. However, IPR policy experts have expressed reservations over what they see as an over-emphasis on IPR creation.

The policy, released last month, makes it clear that India will strictly comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) but will not adopt anything beyond that.

Rajiv Nath, founder and forum coordinator of Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) welcomed the new policy, which he signals that India is evolving to be in accordance to the U.S. and EU’s standard in terms of protecting intellectual property. “This will bring more investors to India, especially to medical device sector,” he said.

Lacking IP protection was the one of the biggest blocks that keep foreign capital flowing into India’s med-tech sector, according to the founder of the association.

“Multinational companies lack confidence in protecting their intellectual property if they move manufacturing facilities to India. The new policy addresses the criticism from companies,” Nath told Medical Device Daily. “I am not sure how much this fills the IP gap as the implementation and other details have yet to be seen. However, I think that things are headed in the right direction.” At the same time, the new rules will give more incentive to domestic medical device manufacturers in terms of research and development.

New Policy Objectives

The new policy has seven objectives, including stimulating the generation of IPRs, developing strong and effective IPR laws that balance the interests of rights owners and the larger public interest and broader commercialization of IP. Another key objective is to modernize and strengthen service-oriented IPR administration by setting up a special “Cell for IPR Promotion and Management’ (CIPAM) to facilitate more effective and synergistic work between various IP offices, as well as help promote, create and commercialize IP assets.

The policy also aims to strengthen the enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat IPR infringements.

Other objectives include improving IPR outreach and promotion by creating public awareness about the economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society and to strengthen and expand human resources, institutions and capacities to teach, train, research and build skills related to IPR.

Some See Flaws In New Policy

India’s leading patent policy expert Shamnad Basheer, a former professor at the National University for Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, said “a fundamental flaw” with the new policy is “the assumption that IP is an end in itself and we must notch up more IP registrations for the mere sake of it. Given this fundamental flaw, the policy makes a number of empiricallyunsound assertions, such as a near compulsion for publicly funded scientists to register all their new discoveries as IP,” he said.

Basheer said that the policy’s positive features include expedited examination, an open IP exchange, and the infusion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds into open innovation.

There is still uncertainty on IPR issues including compulsory licensing, section 3(d). Global innovation hubs have a strong IPR policy and mechanisms for patent litigation in cases of IP infringement. Given the current negligible contribution of Indian med-tech companies to global IPR in terms of product patents, it is unclear how the new IPR policy will bridge the demands of the global IPR community including multinational companies and investors vis -a -vis the public health realties in India.

“India’s new national IPR policy strikes a balance between protecting the rights of patients and promoting innovation within the pharmaceutical industry,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive director of Bangalore-based Biocon Ltd. “It unambiguously states that India will strictly comply with patent rules within the TRIPS framework, but will not go beyond those obligations as required in a TRIPS-Plus regime.”

India has also refused to dilute Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act that essentially prevents ‘evergreening,’ where pharmaceutical companies patent frivolous changes to their drugs in order to extend IP protection, thereby preventing generic companies from manufacturing cheaper drugs the poor can better afford,” she said.

“The new IPR policy, which aims to protect inventors and innovators in their quest to create new knowledge but deters frivolous patenting that hinders equitable knowledge creation,” is at the heart of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s mission to generate more innovation in India, she added.

What’s more, the new policy also “demonstrates the seriousness of the Indian government in putting in place a well-defined IPR policy and creating the infrastructure for streamlining the filing and disposal of IP applications. The policy seeks to not only fasttrack patent application and processing procedures but also reduce patent approval timelines,” Mazumdar-Shaw said.