Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), Government of Karnataka, is leading a delegation to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to participate in BIO 2019, one of the largest biotechnology expos in the world. The delegation includes six Bio-startups under Capacity Building through Exposure visits and Workshops (under Karnataka Startup Policy).

“The BIO International Convention which is held in USA during June every year, has been an important platform for the Department of IT, BT and S&T to showcase Karnataka’s biotechnology ecosystem to learn more about the perspectives of high-level government officials, key thought leaders and experts from around the world on the new opportunities and challenges facing the global biotech industry. “Since 2013, the Department of IT, BT and ST, Government of Karnataka, through its Biotechnology Facilitation Cell (BFC) at KITS, has continuously participated in this event along with members of Vision Group for BT, biotech companies, and researchers from top R&D institutes in the State and the country.” said Dr. S Balasubramanya, Sr. Consultant (Biotech), Karnataka Innovation & Technology Society, Dept. of IT, BT & S&T, Govt. of Karnataka who is representing KITS at BIO 2019.

The six bio-startups that are being partially financed by KITS for participation in BIO 2019 include Sensivision, Health Technologies, Mocxa Health,Retisense, Atrimed Biotech, Viable Near Infra Red (VNIR) Biotechnologies and  Denovo Biolabs.

“The event will witness the participation of around 16,000 delegates from over 74 countries and 48 states. On the agenda over three days are sessions on business partnering, education, networking, and an exhibition showcasing the promising advancements that the biotech sector is delivering. While it is an excellent platform for bio-startups to seek funding opportunities and potential buyers, it is also the perfect platform for likeminded interactions and exchange of ideas” said Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre.

"We already have our prototype robotic, portable, smartphone-based video-EEG device ready for pilots. We would like to showcase it at the convention to explore licensing and partnership opportunities with medical device companies attending BIO 2019" - Ankita Kumar, Co-founder, Mocxa Health Pvt. Ltd.

"Sensivision is focused on Asphyxia Management among new borns. Hence for our current and future pipeline of products, BIO International Convention would be a great place to collect new ideas and possibilities to build on" - Jayadeep, Founder - CEO, Sensivision Health Technologies Pvt Ltd.

"We build medical sensing devices for use in physiotherapy, rehabilitation and diabetic foot treatment, with primary focus being to provide home-based diagnostics solutions. We are looking to demonstrate our solution in this conference as well as discuss opportunities for clinical studies using our products, so that we can achieve research backing for our product, and eventually get our product FDA certified" - Anshuman Singh, Director, Retisense Tech India Pvt Ltd.

Sensivision Health Technologies is a medical device company focused on critical care segment of Neonates. Established in 2015, Sensivision designs and develops medical devices that uniquely address some of the challenging Neonatal conditions.

Mocxa Health is an innovation-driven startup developing solutions for the diagnosis of seizures, epilepsy, sleep disorders and movement disorders. The startups uses programmable cameras, video & image processing, computer vision and robotics to create superior diagnostic products.

Retisense aims to become the de-facto leader in Biomechanics platform for Sports and Healthcare by developing breakthrough sensing and analytics for all aspects of human movement. Retinsense’s Stridalyzer solution suite provide full-loop solutions to patients and healthcare professionals to diagnose, analyze, intervene and track recovery, through the use of patent-pending technologies and intuitive visualizations and reports, connect via the back-end patient management system.

Atrimed Biotech is a two and a half year old start-up, working on novel small molecule therapeutics, currently focused on chronic inflammation driven skin diseases, pain management and cancer. Viable Near Infra Red (VNIR) Biotechnologies is a deep science startup leveraging its core strengths in “molecular probe technologies” to develop new paradigms in disease diagnostics. VNIR has several advanced molecular probes which are useful for early and reliable diagnostics of Alzheimer’s at antibody quality. Other diagnostic probes range from potential applications in point-of-care devices in diagnostics of malaria to prognostic markers like of reactive oxygen.

Denovo Biolabs is specialized in product development through R&D and innovation for laboratory diagnostics and medical research. It is into development of quality Immunological tools to serve unmet demands of the industry. It also develops biopharmaceutical technologies to deal with Global healthcare needs in terms of accessibility and affordability of drugs. Denovo Biolabs provides wide range of customized services.

Other established companies from Karnataka that are participating independently in BIO 2019 include Anthem Biosciences, Aurigene Discovery Technologies, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, Eurofins Advinus, Richcore Lifesciences, Stelis Biopharma, and Syngene International.