IIT-Madras partners with US-based Ricovr for medical research

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) announced on Friday its plans to collaborate with Ricovr Inc, a US-based medical device company, for research on point-of-care medical device development.
Ricovr is currently working on building a medical device for point-of-care testing using saliva and this collaboration will help Ricovr advance its research and development efforts, the parties said in a statement.
Ricovr is in the midst of creating a product that uses patent-pending nanoscale technology. The product is expected to benefit businesses, law enforcement officials and the medical community by providing timely monitoring.
Speaking about this collaboration, Ravindra Gettu, dean of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research at IIT- Madras, said, “I am confident that this cooperation with Ricovr Inc will lead to a fruitful outcome in the form of cutting-edge point-of-care devices for oral diagnostics.”
Point-of-care diagnostics, or near-patient testing, is a type of medical diagnostic test that enables accurate, real-time, lab-quality diagnostic test results within minutes.
This increases the efficiency of diagnostic and testing process and helps ensure that patients are receiving the highest-quality care by freeing up invaluable time normally occupied by waiting for test results.
Himanshu Bhatia, founder and chief executive officer, Ricovr Inc, said, “Our collaborative efforts with IIT-Madras position us to be able to deliver world-class scientific advancements in an exciting emerging space. This partnership will help us attain our goal of developing and commercialising point-of-care medical devices for diverse markets.”
Ricovr was founded by Bhatia, a physician executive with background in medicine, biotechnology, and entrepreneurship.