Coeo Labs, a medical device start-up, has developed VAPCare which is a complete tracheal secretion management device. It is embedded with sensors and removes secretions from three different locations in the oral cavity and trachea, thus preventing micro-organism entering the lungs, which causes Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP).

The company has applied for a provisional Indian patent for the project and will be filing the final specifications in a couple of weeks.

Annually, India accounts for over 250,000 succumbing to ventilator associated pneumonia and US reports over 250,000 cases of this condition.

“We have proof-of-concept of the device ready and working and are now gearing up for human studies. VAPCare underwent extensive clinical research and validation with multiple doctors globally,” Nachiket Deval, co-founder, Coeo Labs, told Pharmabiz.

The company carried out bench-top trials using medical mannequin that showed positive results. It was able to test full functionality of the product using an airway mannequin. This is the only device in market which can do automated oral hygiene and secretion management. The proprietary sensing techniques sense the secretion and manage it. It also takes care of oral hygiene and prevents VAP, he added.

The company is targeting all the hospitals using ventilators. “In an ideal case, VAPCare is a perfect companion to all ventilator machines. We plan to market our product by getting support of key opinion leaders of healthcare providers. In addition, product promotion would be via clinical conferences, publishing scientific paper and reaching the clinical community through existing medical device distributors,” he said.

Currently, Coeo not looking for any specific company for production, but would be in talks with multiple manufacturing vendors.

“We believe in need-based innovation rather than bootstrapping onto a global product,” said Deval. The product concept came about after Coeo Labs’s founders Nitesh Kumar Jangir and Nachiket Deval who were part of InnAccel’s AIM innovation programme. The Coeo team along with three doctors and a business specialist spent 8 week at the emergency department at St. Johns Medical College, Bengaluru to carry out a structured need assessment in emergency and critical care. On completion, they ascertained the total absence of need for a device to reduce ventilator associated pneumonia in patients on long term mechanical ventilation.

The company is presently incubated at InnAccel, and was awarded the Biotech Ignition Grant (BIG), an idea to prototype grant, provided by BIRAC (Biotechnology industry Researched Assistance Council), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in partnership with C-CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms).

It is represented by team of doctors, engineers and product designers including Dr. Vimal Kishore Kakani, emergency physician., St. Johns Medical College and Hospital along with Dr. Shankutala Murthy and Dr. Girish Narain from the same hospital, A Vijayrajan, CTO and Siraj Dhanani CEO from InnAccel, Raghuveer Rao UK, Dr. Kristian Olson Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi from InnAccel who guided the product development.