KOCHI:
A common reason for stress and anxiety for couples trying to have a baby is not knowing their fertile days. There are only a few days every cycle when a woman is fertile and has a high chance of getting pregnant.
However, 46% of the cycles vary more than 7 days and every 1 in 2 couples identify their fertile days wrong thereby delaying conception. Going to the lab for follicular ultrasound scans multiple times every cycle is very strenuous and already available home products like ovulation kits are unreliable and do not work for the hormone levels of Indian women.
Acknowledging this, Inito, a Bangalore based medical diagnostic firm, developed a fertility monitor, a home diagnostic test that enables women to track their fertile days at home in an easy and convenient manner. The fertility test is the first test supported by the Inito diagnostic device. The fertility test works by identifying up to 6 fertile days of a woman’s cycle. The test strips are dipped in urine and inserted into the device, the device is then attached to the phone and the Inito app displays the result.
Inito Fertility Test not only measures Estrogen & Luteinizing Hormone (LH) in urine but also understands cycle variations and gives highly accurate results unique to every individual woman’s cycle and thus increases the chance of her getting pregnant naturally by 89%. It has been noted that since 9 out of 10 women do not go back to labs for follicular scans after using a fertility monitor.
Inito is backed by their patented flat lens technology that enables smartphones to perform lab-grade medical diagnostic tests at home using a single portable device. Inito diagnostic device comes with the Inito Reader, App and the Test strips. The company will soon be adding Diabetes, Thyroid and Vitamin D tests to its device. Addition of more tests takes just an App update and ordering the strip for the user. 3rd party strips can also be added to the Inito platform by just an App upgrade. Results from Inito device have further been validated by third parties. A recent report by Dr. Satish Dubey, professor at IIT Delhi has proved that Inito diagnostic device can read dozens of diagnostic test strips with a 99.12% correlation when compared to lab grade scanners.
Inito has achieved the performance of a Rs.3 Lakhs costing bulky lab reader in a Rs. 3000 device that is small and portable. Inito has been built on the idea that home diagnostic can help remove the enormous pressure that the Indian healthcare system has started facing in recent times. Inito has been growing at a rate of 30% month on month since its commercial launch in December 2017. The encouraging part is that this is not just a western or urban phenomenon anymore, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are joining the band wagon as well. In fact, 40% of Inito sales come from non-Tier 1 cities. They now have buyers from places like Kashmir and Assam too.
Aayush Rai, Co-Founder, Inito commented, “Fertility Monitors hold more importance for SEA women as a study by EY notes that lower AFC and AMH levels in South Asian Women compared to Caucasians leads to poor ovarian reserve and an earlier onset of infertility in the former.”
Varun AV, co-founder of Inito said "Reliability is one of the most important attributes of a medical device. Achieving the performance of strip readers that is 100 times more expensive and 10x bulkier in a small and portable form factor like Inito is a proof of the cutting-edge technology that Inito has built.
So far, the company has four patents pending in its name in six geographies including US, European Union, Japan, India, Russia and China and the fertility test is FDA approval exempt even in the US. It has also bagged three prestigious design awards – CII Design Award, India Design Mark and Japanese Good Design Award. The company raised $1 Million last year from angel investors in India and Singapore. The device is priced at Rs 3,195 while a pack of eight fertility test strips costs Rs 895. Right now, users can buy it through Inito’s website or on Flipkart. It will soon be available on pharmacies.
