What is the name of your solution?
mWrapr: Molecular Transport Medium
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Molecular Transport Medium designed for LMI countries with interrupted power and no cold chain networks to transport infectious and biological samples
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
As India is a developing country, the population is more than that of a developed nation. India alone with a population of about 900 Million people live in rural areas that do not have access to molecular diagnostics and quality health care. In addition a 3.4 Billion population living in low and medium income countries (LMIC) including India lack cold storage infrastructure for storage of covid samples and infectious disease samples, which are essential to transport these collected samples to cities that have facilities for molecular testing. Frequent power failures and long restoration time adds to loss of sample integrity. Adding to this issue is that the samples collected have to be processed within a short period of time. The problem is further amplified as diagnostic and screening tests have to be done repeatedly. During the covid 19 pandemic, we saw that the testing rates in India versus the population size was very low due to scarcity of resources such as RT PCR machines, test kits, sample collection kits, consumables and cold storage infrastructure.
Before the covid-19 outbreak. India mainly had a lot of antibody-based testing while the molecular test penetration was at just 12%. Both devices and consumables were imported from the developed countries. After molecular testing was made mandatory for testing covid-19 and other infectious diseases, All the Diagnostic Labs were facing a shortage of genomic consumables required to run these high throughput devices. There are only around four vendors in the world, who offer molecular transport mediums for sample collection.
The current unprecedented situations like the pandemic and war related economic sanctions are disrupting the continuous supply chain and availability. In order to reduce our continued dependence on imported products, to keep lights on in our molecular diagnostics labs and cutting edge academic research, Azooka has developed a molecular transport medium platform for both research use and diagnostic use.
The most widely used sample collection kit for covid 19 is a viral transport medium. This is a nutrition based VTM that keeps the virus active and the samples collected need to be stored and transported at cold storage conditions only. A 30 minute power outage in LMI countries can contaminate the samples resulting in false positive results. In addition there is a huge risk in handling the samples as the virus is intact. The samples in VTM cannot be stored indefinitely and stability of RNA is a real concern when it comes to testing using RT PCR, Sequencing or other molecular diagnostic methods..
What is your solution?
Azooka has developed and deployed a Molecular Transport Medium (RNA Wrapr and mWrapr) used for COVID-19 sample and other infectious disease sample collection. It protects the integrity of RNA at Room Temperature without any cold storage upto a week and provides good RNA Yields per sample. RNA WRAPR is a molecular upgrade to VTM for Primary healthcare centers in tier 2, 3 cities with low resource setting, no cold storage infrastructure and zero contamination. Samples collected in our MTM require minimal virus handling and are safe to handle for tests even in primary health care centOur ers where there is no BSL 2/3 facility. RNA Wrapr is validated by ICMR and CE certified.
RNA WRAPR- This is a biological sample storage and Molecular transport medium for covid -19 and other infectious diseases, that does not require cold storage. The virus in the samples collected in this medium gets inactivated and only the genetic material (DNA/RNA) remains intact for tests that can be processed at room temperature after a week. Zero contamination has been reported in RNA WRAPR for upto 2 years. Our MTM is safe to the frontline health care workers even on accidental spillage during transport and storage, when compared to the other VTM’s available in the market.
mWrapr Series- This series of our sample collection medium can be used for collection of any biological sample in which the quality and integrity or nucleic acids matter. mWrapr blood DNA/RNA tubes preserve nucleic acids after collection of all biological samples, including that of infectious diseases such as TB and others. We have developed an entire range of products for oral microbiome sample collection, blood DNA/RNA tubes, cell free DNA tubes, microbial cells, saliva, urine and fecal samples. As these samples have very less concentration of the genetic material of the infectious agent, it is very important to use our collection and storage medium that preserves the integrity of DNA/RNA, inactivates nucleases and preserves the genetic material at room temperature for upto 7 to 14 days. The samples can be indefinitely stored at -20 and - 80 deg deep freezers.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our covid stack solution is designed for zero power and zero contamination sample collection and molecular diagnostic solution that can help diagnostics of covid and other infectious diseases in low resource settings such as primary health care centers in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. Our solutions will not only save on costs including power, but will take molecular diagnostics to low resource settings not only in India but in all LMIC countries.
There are only four companies that make these molecular transport mediums, which are being imported and distributed in India. This results in long waiting times and heavy demand for these products. Now that India has been gearing up for molecular and genomics based diagnostics, our Made in India products help in easy access, availability and fast delivery times when compared to 2 to 4 weeks taken by the other vendors. We are able to produce a product of great quality at less than 30% of the cost of the imported products in India and this has helped us in easy market penetration.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Azooka started with the mission of creating a billion people impact by building world class molecular biology products from India. The CEO Alex D Paul gave up his PR at Australia to craft products from India, as India is known for services and a low cost destination for contract research in the Biotechnology space. While we were hit by the pandemic in 2019, our Chief Science officer Fathima Benazir and her team became a part of IISc's covid 19 response team to associate with government hospitals, health centers and diagnostic labs understanding the challenges they were facing. They identified that the major issue was with sample collection, transport and storage as the samples had to be collected in surrounding towns and villages and brought to the city for testing. There were several instances of contaminations, spillage that posed a hazard to front line health care workers or resulted in false results. Having identified this problem the team quickly turned around developed the molecular transport medium to solve these problems and issues that got certified and deployed within a years time and we have reached a million unit target in less than 2 years.
Once of Azooka's mottos is engaging with the users while product development happens. We understand their pain points and craft products that are distributed as samples and receive feed back constantly. The critical inputs have been instrumental in building our solutions. Our products constantly evolve with user feedback even today.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Build fundamental, resilient, and people-centered health infrastructure that makes essential services, equipment, and medicines more accessible and affordable for communities that are currently underserved;
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Bangalore, Karnataka, IndiaOur solution's stage of development:
GrowthHow many people does your solution currently serve?
We have deployed 1 million units and serviced customers from very remote places in India. These include tier 2 and tier 3 cities, villages and taluks such as Raichur, Assam, Raipur and many others. Most of the population has very poor access to the current day diagnostic tests and healthcare facilities. A lot of villages do not even have a health center, which they have to access from a nearby town. Samples collected here are then transported to cities for covid testing. Our solution has helped in maintaining the integrity of the samples and we have received a good response from all our users.
Why are you applying to Solve?
Azooka's solution has been deployed in India. However, all LMI countries face the same problems when it comes to collection of samples for infectious diseases. Although we get some requests from Srilanka, Africa and other countries we are unable to fulfil them due to challenges in scaling, regulatory and export issues. We hope that becoming a solver will give us access to mentors and connects, gain visibility and evaluation support to overcome these challenges, in order to take our solution globally especially to all LMI countries to make molecular diagnostics accessible to all such deprived population. As we are a startup and dependent on grants primarily, we are unable to afford some regulatory costs and the funding will help us to get all regulatory clearances and scale up our production to one million units so as to get listed in WHO's (World Health Organisation) Emergency use listing that will help us reach all these countries rapidly.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Alex D Paul Rabidass
What makes your solution innovative?
Our innovation aims at addressing sample collection, storage and transport at Room temperature.
We have developed a platform that can not only be used for covid 19 but can also be extended to all other infectious diseases. However, our current focus is on covid 19 as this is the need of the hour!
Nutrition based VTM keeps the virus active and the samples collected need to be stored at cold storage conditions only. A 30 minute power outage in LMI countries can contaminate the samples resulting in false positive results. In addition there is a huge risk in handling the samples as the virus is intact. The samples in VTM cannot be stored indefinitely and stability of RNA is a real concern when it comes to testing using RT PCR, Sequencing or other molecular diagnostic methods..
Azooka’s RNA WRAPR is a Molecular Transport Media used for COVID-19 sample and other infectious diseases sample collection. It protects the integrity of RNA at Room Temperature without any cold storage upto a week and provides good RNA Yields per sample. RNA WRAPR is an molecular upgrade to VTM for Primary healthcare centers in tier 2, 3 cities with low resource setting, no cold storage infrastructure and zero contamination. Samples collected in our MTM require minimal virus handling and are safe to handle for tests even in primary health care centers where there is no BSL 2/3 facility. RNA Wrapr is validated by ICMR and CE certified.
mWRAPR, Blood DNA and RNA tube was launched in Jan
Molecular Upgrade for Sample collection
RNA WRAPR- for covid -19 and other infectious diseases, that does not require cold storage. The virus in the samples collected in this medium gets inactivated and only the genetic material (DNA/RNA) remains intact for tests that can be processed at room temperature after a week. Zero contamination has been reported in RNA WRAPR for upto 2 years. Our MTM is safe to the frontline health care workers even on accidental spillage during transport and storage, when compared to other VTM’s available in the market.
Azooka Covid stack is basically built for remote locations and Primary health care centers with low resource settings and can be easily accessed by minimally trained staff.
mWrapr Series- This series of our sample collection medium can be used for collection of any biological sample in which the quality and integrity or nucleic acids matter. mWrapr blood DNA/RNA tubes preserve nucleic acids after collection of all biological samples, including that of infectious diseases such as TB and others. We have developed an entire range of products for oral microbiome sample collection, blood DNA/RNA tubes, cell free DNA tubes, microbial cells, saliva, urine and fecal samples. As these samples have very less concentration of the genetic material of the infectious agent, it is very important to use our collection and storage medium that preserves the integrity of DNA/RNA, inactivates nucleases and preserves the genetic material at room temperature for upto 7 to 14 days. The samples can be indefinitely stored at -20 and - 80 deg deep freezers.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
Our innovation aims at addressing sample collection, storage and transport at Room temperature.
We have developed a platform that can not only be used for covid 19 but can also be extended to all other infectious diseases. However, our current focus is on covid 19 as this is the need of the hour!
Molecular Upgrade for Sample collection
RNA WRAPR- >span class="qowt-font4-Montserrat">for covid -19 and other infectious diseases, that does not require cold storage. The virus in the samples collected in this medium gets inactivated and only the genetic material (DNA/RNA) remains intact for tests that can be processed at room temperature after a week. Zero contamination has been reported in RNA WRAPR for upto 2 years. Our MTM is safe to the frontline health care workers even on accidental spillage during transport and storage, when compared to other VTM’s available in the market.
Azooka Covid stack is basically built for remote locations and Primary health care centers with low resource settings and can be easily accessed by minimally trained staff.
mWrapr Series- This series of our sample collection medium can be used for collection of any biological sample in which the quality and integrity or nucleic acids matter. mWrapr blood DNA/RNA tubes preserve nucleic acids after collection of all biological samples, including that of infectious diseases such as TB and others. We have developed an entire range of products for oral microbiome sample collection, blood DNA/RNA tubes, cell free DNA tubes, microbial cells, saliva, urine and fecal samples. As these samples have very less concentration of the genetic material of the infectious agent, it is very important to use our collection and storage medium that preserves the integrity of DNA/RNA, inactivates nucleases and preserves the genetic material at room temperature for upto 7 to 14 days. The samples can be indefinitely stored at -20 and - 80 deg deep freezers.
What is your theory of change?
Azooka’s Molecular Transort Medium’s formulation and kit designs in such a way that it can be licensed to partners. We do not plan to manufacture to the entire demand, we plan to license the product design recipes to partners so that it can be manufactured by anyone who has a CDSCO or license and has provision to manufacture kits at scale.
Vital Products Used EveryDay by Scientists and Labs
A molecular transport medium is very vital to preserve the RNA and the sample integrity. Currently the viral transport medium does not have the accuracy that is needed for the test, why our partnerships will be able to capture Significant market share by licensing to manufacturing partners.
Pricing and Onboarding Strategy
Azooka pricing 2x margins to distributors compared competition
Better
Field Performance report is on par / better than competition
Faster
Faster Delivery in 3-4 business days
Cost Effective
30% cheaper than all competing Products
Transition
No Transition curve or cost
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
We are a culmination of biotechnology, chemistry and molecular biology where we have a unique formulation that comprises of molecules, buffers, chelators and others to protect the integrity of nucleic acids, while inactivating the infectious agents such as viruses. This unique composition is proprietary and helps preserve any type of biological samples including blood that can be stored and processed at a later point in time.
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new application of an existing technology
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
full time- 7, part time- 3, unskilled workers- 9, advisors- 5, partners- 4
How long have you been working on your solution?
since March 2019
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
Azooka is a women led enterprise and both the founders belong to minority communities. We are both first generation entrepreneurs and our team members belong to 60% women from different backgrounds and diverse segments.
Hiring Policy:
We have a talent based hiring policy and do not insist on qualification and experience. We hire people who have a real passion and talent.
We also follow a no hierarchy policy and give equal weightage and opportunities to fresh ideas to all our team members.
What is your business model?
Azooka Molecular Transport Medium is proven in COVID-19 Crisis with more than a million units deployed without contamination. Azooka has scoped to expand the Molecular Transport Medium for main applications
Research Use Only
Diagnostic / Clinical Use
Market Landscape : Competition
Becton Dickinson Universal Transport Medium
Qiagen PAxgene Tubes
Thermofisher RNALater Bulk and Sample Collection Kits
Streck Sample Collection kits
Zymo Bulk and Sample collection Kits
Norgen Bio Stabilization Kits
| Total Available Market 2.2 billion
| Service Addressable market 500 million | Service Obtainable Market 40 Million
Business plan
Azooka’s Molecular Transort Medium’s formulation and kit designs in such a way that it can be licensed to partners. We do not plan to manufacture to the entire demand, we plan to license the product design recipes to partners so that it can be manufactured by anyone who has a CDSCO or license and has provision to manufacture kits at scale.
Vital Products Used EveryDay by Scientists and Labs
A molecular transport medium is very vital to preserve the RNA and the sample integrity. Currently the viral transport medium does not have the accuracy that is needed for the test, why our partnerships will be able to capture Significant market share by licensing to manufacturing partners.
Pricing and Onboarding Strategy
Azooka pricing 2x margins to distributors compared competition
Better
Field Performance report is on par / better than competition
Faster
Faster Delivery in 3-4 business days
Cost Effective
30% cheaper than all competing Products
Transition
No Transition curve or cost
Global Go to market strategy
India
India
10X Revenue Growth Target via Channel Sales
Onboarded Ex- BD biosciences Sales Manager Prakash Dhirwani
Close Partnerships with Distributors and Resellers in India
Milestone based SalesRewards with Equity and Sales Commission combination for $ 660k ( INR 5 Crores ) and $1,4 M ( INR 10 Crores )
Global Manufacturing Hub
Strength Manufacturing Unit for Variants of Molecular Transport and Fluorescent detection kits
USA
Apply for FDA 510K License for Molecular Transport Medium
Product Sales : Research Use Only
MWrapr Sample Collection Kits for Research Use Only
Licensing Options
Apply for trademark and registered product and platform names
Apply for FDA Licenses 510K for RNA WRAPR and mWrapr
Whitelabel / OEM products to US Distributors with profit share agreements
Europe
Licensing
Europe Office for Licensing and R&D
Apply for European CE for Molecular Transport Medium
Apply for European Medical Agency for RNA WRAPR
Our Low and Middle Income Countries (WHO Listed)
Regions: APAC, AFRICA and LATAM
Focus Only Sale of Products via Distributors
Action Points:
Applying for WHO Emergency Use Listings
Onboard Distributor selling competition at better margins
Advantage : USD vs INR base price allows better margins for distributors and resellers.
Azooka’s RUO and Diagnostic molecular transport medium is designed and crafted to integrate with point of care, primary and tertiary health care segments in both the public and private sector. We have distributed samples to Kasturba Institute of Infectious diseases, KEM hospital Mumbai and other private diagnostic labs across different states.
Screening kits for remote locations point-of-care kiosks and primary Healthcare centers without access to sophisticated devices.
All these operations and activities will help us establish the product in the market against our competition.
The third party validation reports and certifications will be monitored and appropriate actions will be taken in terms of product quality and reproducibility. The data obtained is essential for our certifications
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
Our financial strategy is a combination of all. Azooka is in the process of raising pre series round of investments for Ramiah Evolute, HNIs and other investors. At present we are able to manage 50 % of our burn rate with the sale of our products and are adopting strategies to export. Applying to granting agencies and CSR grants has been one of key focus from the beginning. This helps us achieve specific milestones and targets. We have patents granted in 5 countries for our fluorophore products and are looking at licensing deals as a revenue stream.
Solution Team
-
Dr Fathima Benazir Jahangir Chief Science Officer, Azooka Labs Private Limited
to Top
Our Organization
Azooka Labs