Rathin Med Ltd supports the launching of technology into the UK, with an aim to improve prevention, care, and treatment within the NHS.
- Rathin Med won the Eureka Eurostars competition in 2022, securing £80,000 in funding from Innovate UK.
- Innovation aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan and NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme with an aim of improving the management of Diabetes.
- Dr. Manoj Kumar was a 2023 finalist at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Dr Manoj Kumar is a Medical Registrar working in North Manchester General Hospital, Founder and Director of Rathin Med Ltd, and Cohort 7 Clinical Entrepreneur.
Founded in 2019, Rathin Med Ltd, aims to support healthcare innovation projects to launch in the UK, with a key focus on medical devices and digital health, to directly benefit the National Health Service.
‘Rathin Med aims to achieve the NHS’ long-term plan and net zero goals, by bringing sustainable healthcare solutions to communities across the UK.’
Dr Manoj Kumar and fellow NHS clinician Dr Vishalini Venkatachalam saw that innovation was key to reshaping the NHS for the future and were intrigued by how they could launch new innovative medical technology into practice in the UK. This led to the development of Rathin Med which aims to support projects to bring new health-tech to the UK.
Rathin Med commenced their journey with the Silent Speech project, a simple app which allows children to click on pictures to converse, providing a voice to those who may be non-verbal, autistic or have learning disabilities. Covid-19 then began, and the team offered support to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) during the pandemic, by partnering with manufacturers in South Korea, China and Singapore, to evaluate overseas Covid Antigen and Antibody testing kits as a part of the emergency response to Covid from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. The team were able to bring inventive prototypes and highly sensitive testing kits at an affordable price for DHSC tenders.
After the pandemic, Rathin Med continued to expand with a focus on digital health and diagnostics, where the team supported a range of projects including Covid screening, Drone automated external defibrillator delivery and wearable devices for remote patient monitoring.
Rathin Med’s biggest achievement to date was winning the prestigious Eureka Eurostars 3, call 2 competition in July 2022. The team secured £80,000 in funding from Innovate UK and Vinnova Sweden to collaborate with Swedish MedTech company Innovosens, to support the development of the project ‘SMASH’ and bring the device to the UK market.
SMASH-Sweat Metabolite Analysis for Sports and Health, is an AI-powered non-invasive sweat wearable sensor for continuous real time monitoring of Glucose and Lactate. It has 3 components- A Microfluidic Sweat Sensor, Electronic Reader, and an App. The innovative microfluidic system enables sensor collection of sweat from the skin to analyse the biomarkers’ levels and continuously replenishes the reservoir with fresh sweat for continual monitoring.
“The latest figures show that 3.8 million people are living with Diabetes in the UK, and 90% of those are type 2. There are also a percentage of the population who are living with type 2 Diabetes who are yet to be diagnosed, estimating a total of 4.7 million individuals, which is set to rise. It is estimated that the NHS spend 10% of its budget annually on Diabetes and its complications.”
Rathin Med Team
Aligning with the NHS Long Term Plan, and the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, SMASH aims to support Diabetic patients to measure their glucose level non-invasively, continuously and in real-time, through data wirelessly transmitted from the device to a mobile app. Historically, Blood glucose monitoring in diabetes involves a patient using a finger prick test or electronic blood sugar monitor, which can be painful to use, and may not provide continual readings. The SMASH technology allows fast reactions to fluctuations in glucose levels, to ensure the correct dietary (If blood glucose is low, a diabetic may need to eat) or drug intake (If blood glucose is high, a diabetic may need Insulin), which supports in the prevention of hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose) or hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose) episodes which can result in a patient becoming very unwell and even being admitted to hospital. In addition, the real-time monitoring of lactate level provides athletes and their coaches with the possibility to prevent lacto-acidosis (When there is a lactic acid build up in the bloodstream), thus customising and maximising training sessions and preventing the risk of injuries.
Dr Kumar was appointed Project lead and has worked closely with regulatory specialists in obtaining UKCA approval as a Health and Wellness device. SMASH has also successfully achieved Technology Readiness Level (TRL) stage 7 and has robust patient protection.
“Our projects have been submitted to several Government tenders, aimed at increasing the wellbeing of patients and maximising the potential of NHS resources.”
The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme has supported Dr Manoj Kumar to develop his innovative thinking, team working skills and global perspective around entrepreneurship.
He has felt supported by the NHS CEP community, having met a range of Clinical Entrepreneurs who have shared their stories and offered their advice based on the lessons they have learned.
The events have provided him with important business information and links to support, which will help to further his innovation by applying for funding and building a successful business strategy.
“In a digital world, running businesses has become both easy and challenging, with traditional practices requiring modifications viable for the modern global economy. I strongly believe a programme like the NHS CEP is a requisite to streamline my experiences and expand my horizons.
The Big pitch event gave me an excellent insight into pitching to investors, the road map of innovators including the hurdles they have faced and the support you receive from the programme.
My intent is to study and devise successful business strategies encompassing healthcare, marketing, and management from NHS CEP Programme and to transform myself into a successful healthcare entrepreneur.”
Dr Manoj Kumar
Looking to the future
As the SMASH project continues, testing is being conducted and the device is progressing towards TRL stage 7, with all necessary first version electronics, sensors and microfluidics under development.
As the team moves towards quarter 5 of the Innovate UK project, they are looking to pilot SMASH in NHS hospitals and hope to market it as a Health and Wellness device by 2024. To date, they have had interactions with several sports teams who have expressed interest in testing the device and they hope to explore further opportunities moving forward.
“If you are interested in learning more about Rathin Med or would like to explore piloting the SMASH device, please visit our website.”
Dr Manoj Kumar
For more information, please click on the links below.
*References:
- http://www.innovosens.com/#/home
- https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/868696
- https://freshbusinessthinking.com/the-doctors-transforming-healthcare-through-innovation/
- https://www.diabetes.co.uk/cost-of-diabetes.html#:~:text=This%20equates%20to%20over%20%C2%A3,to%204%20million%20by%202025.
- https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-prevalence.html#:~:text=This%20means%20that%2C%20including%20the,diabetes%20(diagnosed%20and%20undiagnosed).
- About | Rathin Med
TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE THROUGH INNOVATION
