Kerala startup develops hand-held oral cancer screening tool

OralScan, an indigenously developed hand-held imaging device, will help in screening, detection and biopsy guidance of oral cancer

OralScan, an indigenously developed hand-held imaging device for screening, detection and biopsy guidance of oral cancer, has been developed by a startup in Thiruvananthapuram.

The startup, Sascan Meditech, which was incubated at TiMED, the Technology Business Incubator of the city-based Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, is launching the device, a press release said.

Oral Scan, a Make-in-India initiative with seed funding from the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) scheme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, was designed and developed entirely in India and supported by Biotechnology ignition grant of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), INVENT (DST) and Kerala StartUp Mission.

The company recently received investment from Unicorn India Ventures.

State Health Minister KK Shailaja, will launch OralScan at a function in Thruvananthapuram today. An online event kickstarting the product sales and distribution network will also be held in the presence of dignitaries, oncologists and channel partners identified across the country.

Dr Asha Kishore, Director, SCTIMST will perform the first sale to Ketan Parmar, Innovative India, Surat.

The device will be marketed at a price of Rs 5.9 lakh. This will be a one-time investment for hospitals and laboratories without any additional costs of consumables.

The startup has already obtained ISO 13485 certification and CE certification.

An Indian patent has been granted for the technology and a US patent has been filed. OralScan has also undergone multi-centric trials covering six hospitals across the country.

“This device is expected to have good demand in general dentistry, oral medicine, Oral/Maxillofacial Pathology and surgery,” said Balram, Engineer, Sree Chitra and CEO of the incubator, Sree Chitra.

PTI