In Startup50 2016: Last year, Forus Health made it to the list for manufacturing affordable eye care equipment (3Nethra) to eradicate preventable blindness. In the last one year, Forus has expanded its product portfolio and launched 3Nethra Neo, a hand-held device, to screen premature babies for a problem called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) and its first device has been sold to 1,200 customers in 25 countries, a rare success story in the made-in-India medical device sector.

Founders: K. Chandrasekhar & Shyam Vasudev

Forus Health manufactures affordable eye care equipment. It has two devices, 3nethra – with a vision to enable the eradication of preventable blindness; and ForusCare, a pre-screening ophthalmology device and tele-medicine solution.

3nethra is a versatile solution that can detect five common eye problems in a single screening, and provides for automated analysis and report generation with cloud-based storage of individual data. It is being used in community healthcare services and CSR initiatives. It can also be installed in kiosks in places with high footfalls such as airports, railway stations and even malls, where people can get accurate, quick and affordable screening for common eye diseases for their entire family. Additionally, it sells its pre-screening ophthalmology devices and tele-medicine solution to range of eye hospitals, individual ophthalmologists, diabetic clinics, diagnostic/health centres and optical retail chains, among others.

Forus Health has been funded by IDG Ventures, Accel Partners and Asian Healthcare Fund.

The story unfolds

3nethra Neo, launched in July this year, was a result of its consistent efforts to build affordable & state-of-the-art imaging solutions for eye care. It costs one fourth of its nearest competitor’s product. 3nethra NEO, which is a Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) imaging platform, was designed alongside 3nethra Classic, the company’s flagship adult retinal imaging device that has been deployed in 25 countries. The company collaborated with Narayana Nethralaya for development and clinical validation of 3nethra Neo under its KIDROP outreach programme. The partnership is expected to benefit in field testing and ground staff training. Forus has been involved in the development of the Neo as a clinical partner under a Department of Biotechnology grant.

Facts in Numbers:

1200

(Number of customers who bought 3Nethra)

25

(Number of countries present in)