An innovator focused on creating affordable diagnostic and digital tools for chronic disease management: Nemaura Medical Inc

Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart ailments are continuing to place an immense burden on the global health care systems. As a response to this, some of the health care institutions are turning towards technology for chronic disease management to reduce the number of adverse events, the incidence of preventable hospitalization, and managing the health of patients with chronic conditions. In recent times, wearables with sensor technology and artificial intelligence are helping patients as well as clinicians in chronic disease management. It is a well-known fact that nothing can replace clinician judgment; however, the latest data-driven technologies are assisting in the advanced delivery of the right care to the right patient at the right time.

Globally, there are various innovators in the healthcare segment providing excellent solutions for chronic disease management, but Nemaura Medical Inc stands out from the rest. Nemaura has combined its in- house diagnostic platform technology with digital healthcare platforms through partnerships and by bringing in artificial intelligence development capabilities in-house. Nemaura’s technology offering will continue to grow to encompass a combination of AI, devices, and digital platforms, with which Nemaura is positioning itself to become a significant player in the digital healthcare revolution. Nemaura was founded in 2011 and has offices in New York, USA, and Loughborough, UK.

In conversation with Dr. Faz Chowdhury, Founder and CEO of Nemaura Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRD)

Q. Explain your services in brief.

We like to believe that we are at the cutting edge of innovation in microsystems and nanotechnology-based wearable devices and medical diagnostics. In other words, we are working with the latest technologies to create wearable devices that allow people to monitor various aspects of their health in real-time, such as their blood glucose profiles, biomarkers for stress, and lactate levels, etc. We have developed the sensor platform as well as the digital interface and aim to lead in the field of digital and wearable healthcare technologies.

Q. What are the challenges addressed by BEAT^® technology?

There are around 450 million people around the world with diabetes and over 1.5 Billion people with pre-diabetes. Diabetes is a pandemic and costs healthcare providers almost 15% of their entire budget managing diabetes and its complications. A person has two options when it comes to managing diabetes, and that is to either use a blood finger prick test to establish what their blood glucose level is at that specific point in time or wear a sensor that is inserted in the arm using a needle, which is not only prohibitively expensive but also requires 10-14 days continuous wear. We have developed the world's first non-invasive sensor. The sensor sits on top of the skin and measures blood glucose profiles every 5 minutes, and sends this to a smartphone so a person can see their blood sugar trends over the course of the day. We expect this has the potential to revolutionize the way we manage Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes (to prevent the onset of diabetes), given these are sensors you only wear on the days you need them, and the costs are a fraction of the costs of the long-term wear invasive sensors. When managing Type 2 diabetes in the vast majority of cases, a person does not need to wear a sensor for multiple days consecutively. Generally wearing a sensor a few days at the end of each month to see to what extent they have managed to stabilize their blood sugar levels based on their diet, lifestyle, and exercise over the course of the month, serves as an empowering tool that has thus far never been available or accessible, and at a price point that is intended to be affordable for the masses.

Q. How do your offerings manage to get an accurate diagnosis to prompt treatment?

Our device measures glucose that is extracted from the skin to the surface of the skin. Our ultra-sensitive sensors, constructed using composite materials, provide the requisite sensitivity, linearity, and accuracy of the measurement. The raw data, generated from amperometric detection, is sent to the mobile phone, where it is converted to a glucose value using a proprietary algorithm. The glucose values are recorded and plotted in real-time every 5 minutes, and the excursions from a narrow recommended or target glucose band can be observed, which provides a powerful means of monitoring the extent to which a person is able to regulate their blood glucose levels, which in turn indicates the severity of their condition and therefore the treatment or lifestyle and dietary interventions that may be required.

Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched?

During the course of 2021, we plan to launch a program aimed at the consumer, health-conscious, as well as to tackle obesity and weight loss using our sensor platform. The details of the program will be revealed in due course, and this will be a one-of-a-kind program given our sensors are the world's first daily wear non-invasive sensor. In addition, we are aiming to launch a Lactate sensor for athletic performance training.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

The digital healthcare revolution is underway, and we are fortunate to be in this space with a compelling offering that addresses a huge unmet need affecting almost 1 in 3 of the world population through pre-diabetes and diabetes. We expect very exciting times ahead of us and prospects for substantial growth.

Meet the leader behind the success of Nemaura Medical Inc

The Founder and CEO, Dr. Faz Chowdhury, received his first patent as an undergraduate intern at 3M Health Care and has since developed a portfolio of technologies including the BEAT platform, as well as a number of drug delivery devices for delivering drugs and vaccines through the skin. He has amassed over 100 granted and/or pending patents over the last two decades in this broad field across over a dozen patent families.

Dr. Chowdhury holds a Masters in Microsystems and Nanotechnology from Cranfield University UK, and a doctorate in Nanomedicine and drug delivery from the University of Oxford. He has also founded a highly successful drug delivery company, and thrives on identifying pressing clinical needs and developing solutions for them. 

“Replacing traditional invasive methods of diagnosis and healthcare observation procedures, our BEAT^® technology will allow for remote continuous monitoring of chronic diseases and health conditions.”