Achira Labs launches India’s first microfluidic point-of-care medical testing platform

· New technology in Point of Care medical diagnostics promises to make testing accessible and cost effective

Achira Labs, a pioneering Bangalore based start-up, working on innovative point-of-care medical diagnostics platforms, recently launched the company’s first product, the ‘ACIX-100’. The new portable platform uses patented,next-generation microfluidic technology for testing blood serum samples. The device generates accurate and fast results while enabling improved accessibility and cost effective medical testing solutions. It was designed and developed in-house by a team of scientists and engineers, headed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumnus, Dr. Dhananjaya Dendukuri, Co-founder & CEO at Achira Labs.

The medical diagnostics segment in India today is largely unorganized, with about 90% of the market being dominated by small, regional players. ‘Point of care’ diagnostics is rapidly emerging as an important segment in India with a market of about Rs.800 crore and a CAGR of roughly 20%.Today a patient typically submits his or her blood sample at the Doctor’s office; the sample is then spun down and shipped to a centralized lab. The centralized labs perform the tests and the results are shared with the Doctor’s office, for subsequent delivery to the patient. This test cycle normally takes about 24 hours and is associated with the risk of sample degradation owing to various factors including multiple handling and cold chain logistics.

Achira Labs’ indigenously developed microfluidic, Lab-on-chip platform enables advanced diagnostics delivery at healthcare facilities. The platform circumvents the existing sequence of operations to provide test results within 30 minutes of the sample being fed into the system at the Doctor’s office. This not only enables accurate results, but also improves the experience with the added benefit of reduced cost.

The first version of the ACIX platform that was rolled out recently in Karnataka enables Thyroid testing, which is seeing a surge in demand as approximately 80 million people in India suffer from Hypothyroidism, a chronic medical condition. Thyroid tests are also expensive through conventional methods and the newly developed platform reduces the cost associated with sample testing.

The company has leveraged investments from Catamaran and grants from government and international entities to focus on in-house R&D to create next-generation diagnostic platforms.

Dr. Dhananjaya Dendukuri, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Achira Labs, said, “The launch of our first product, the ACIX-100 marks a major milestone for Achira Labs. We have come a long way with the collective effort of our team of scientists’ and engineers to achieve this technological breakthrough. We see before us a huge opportunity in the POC market and the potential within, to achieve what we had set out to. I would like to congratulate and thank my team and our partners on this special occasion.”

Added, Dr. RenuSwarup, Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Senior Adviser to the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, “We are pleased to see an Indian company grow and develop advanced technologies in the field of medical diagnostics that can impact the lives of millions in the country. This is big moment for Dr. Dendukuri and his team, and we are proud that BIRAC has supported Achira Labs.”