Telos Prosthetics

Currently, there are 40 million amputees globally, and 15 percent of these have access to prosthetics. There are over one million amputees in India. Additionally, residual limb volume change due to daily fluctuations can exceed 20 percent of total limb volume. Current prosthetics addressing volume fluctuations are priced above the purchasing power of the average consumer in most developing countries. Prostheses are not currently available for direct purchase by patients, and must be custom designed, manufactured and fitted; this creates a barrier to access.

Our solution is a prosthetic socket that can be adjusted by the patient. The unique socket structure allows it to change shape at multiple points by simply twisting a knob. This eliminates the need for a prosthetist to initially fit the socket or to periodically adjust for limb volume changes. Finally, the device is designed in such a way that it can be injection molded, unlike any other socket on the market. This allows the prosthesis to be sold at a fraction of the cost, making it accessible to more patients who need it. We will expand access to patients by offering our product through three purchase avenues: direct purchase; bulk sales to clinics, hospitals and rehabilitation centers; and bulk sales to retailers.

Our solution serves low-to-mid-income amputees in developing countries who cannot purchase prostheses due to pricing or barriers to access. We will initially target patients in India.

As we are in the process of improving the design and testing our prototype, we plan to interview healthcare professionals and patients from India for their feedback on the need, design and effectiveness of our solution. Backed with Rasika's healthcare consulting experience conducting market studies for over three years in India, she would help bridge the team to get a good judgement of the healthcare scenario as well as the emotional, cultural and economic understanding of the communities. We are also well connected with hospital administrators at government run hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai.

Telos Prosthesis aims to target developing countries where market penetration can be a challenge. We seek assistance in creating strategies that break traditional methods of seeking healthcare for amputees. The technical and financial assistance received would help us upscale the development of our prototype, conduct verification and validation tests as well as establish strong roots for the venture. Additionally, we would utilize the MIT ecosystem to drive technical development of our product as we iterate on our initial prototype and pilot. The mentorship and advice from established experts would allow us to grow our venture in a way conducive to good operating practices and ensure we follow the path that aligns most closely with our goals and with the needs of the community. We also plan to implement a metrics-based improvement system, for which we would use the offered monitoring and evaluation support. In growing our brand and our reach, and expanding our network to more patients, healthcare providers and healthcare systems, we would use media and conference exposure to drive growth through word of mouth.

Current prostheses have limited-no fitting components (singular dimension of adjustability) that do not account for the level of volume change encountered by the residual limb. Our solution will allow patients to radially control the fit of their socket at three locations along the limb. This provides the device with the comprehensive capability to adjust to most residual limb shapes and volumes.

We hope to provide an affordable prosthetic device to amputees with low access to healthcare, that they can adjust independently to ensure comfort and functionality, without relying on prescribed solutions.

We are currently in the prototype and business planning phase. We are tracking interview responses. We are also collating grant applications and grant funding. Additionally, we have weekly goals we must meet through the JHU accelerator.

Activities: We will establish a direct-to-patient marketing and sales pipeline.

Outputs: Scaling our business from single-patient customers to a global offering; implementing a business-to-business model that enables existing companies to reach underserved patients.

Short-term Outcomes: Clinics and retailers begin engaging with our business model.

Long-term Outcomes:  Low-cost prosthetics are available to any patient in need.

We designed a deformable lattice structure in conjunction with a BOA lacing system, allowing the patient to freely adjust their prosthesis socket in a modular fashion.

Devices that implement a BOA system in a prosthetic socket already exist and are used to provide adjustability in pre-fabricated prostheses. A paper summarizing these can be found here: https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.35208

Our design uses the same principles but implements an expanding structure to improve the adjustability of BOA based sockets to eliminate the need for a prosthetist. [JH1] 

Does this answer their question? [JH1]

The cofounders of the team represent a diversity of cultures and values, which we will bring forward as we expand operations. Additionally, the mission of our venture hinges on equitable access for underserved communities.

Revenue Streams:

Single-unit sales to patients via direct purchase from online landing page (unit defined as socket+liner+glove, etc.) - Create our own website where customers can purchase products. 

Bulk sales to clinics/hospitals/rehab centers 

Bulk sales to retailers – Small, medium and large; brick-and-mortar and online retailers

Business to business - We onboard other companies’ products into our direct-to-patient service 

Unit of revenue:

Product sold; Percentage of profits from companies’ product sold 

Costs:

Labor - manufacturing, materials, web traffic/hosting, shipping, manufacturing facility, distribution center 

Cost of labor in connecting to customers (clinics, hospitals) – establishing a sales pipeline, cost of labor in fielding communication with customers, labor - manufacturing, materials, shipping, manufacturing facility, distribution center 

Cost of labor in connecting to customers (clinics, hospitals) – establishing a sales pipeline, cost of labor in fielding communication with customers, labor - manufacturing, materials, shipping, manufacturing facility, distribution center

Employees to establish relationships and contracts with other businesses, customizing attachment points between our products and partner products, labor - manufacturing, materials, shipping, manufacturing facility, distribution center

Pricing Stragy:

Penetration pricing, bundle pricing, price skimming

Payment cycle:

One-time product sales; commission

Estimated price point or range: $20-$200; 20%-50%

Initially, we plan on applying for grants as we continue to prototype evaluate our device. Once we have a complete product that is ready for market, we will apply for contracts with non-profit organizations so that the socket can be distributed to regions with low accessibility to health care. We also plan on selling our device to individual customers online as well as in bulk to medical supply stores and rehabilitation centers.

We will receive $500 after the completion of the JHU Fast Forward U Spark Accelerator.