Team:KU Leuven/Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
In its mission to help patients in need of therapeutic drug monitoring, not only the technology is important. We should also make sure that the technology would reach the patient. For this purpose, we imagined the start-up HEKcite.
Costumers
To better understand who the company’s clients are, a couple of brainstorm session were held. The results can be summarized in what is called a business model canvas.
As can be seen in the canvas, medical doctors would be the company’s customers, opting for a HEKcite device when prescribing certain medication to their patients. The customers are thus, highly specialized medical staff, who take the decisions about their patients alone. Depending on where the patient works, he makes the purchasing decision alone or in consultation with the hospital directory board.
Because of the high specialization level of the customers, the company must try to reach them through rather niche channels. A good example are symposia where a group of medical doctors with the same specialization come together, so the device can be presented for a larger group. The company also relies on the fact that these experts keep up with the new developments in their fields and take advice from other experts. Other channels to reach potential customers include publications and papers, and direct contact with the company, such as brochures provided or contact with a sales person.
But why would medical doctors opt for a HEKcite product? It is a well-known fact amongst both medical staff and patients, that for certain types of medication continuous monitoring is needed. There are currently no sensors available on the market that can do this, while the demand there. On a more personal note, on the doctor’s side, there is also the high need to perform. Medical specialists experience high competition amongst fellows. The goal of HEKcite is thus to convince them our device will improve patient contentment and even provide better outcome of whatever condition they are treating. Several patient interviews conducted by the team confirmed the former. Be sure to navigate to the human practices page for more information on this.
To obtain even better insight into the mind of the costumer, another brainstorm session was held, this time in the form of a value proposition canvas. Note that this is just a more detailed version of some of the segments in the business model canvas.
To summarize the chart, it can be concluded that HEKcite will provide a device and an app, that allows customers to monitor multiple patients, with an easy to use interface, all with the goal of providing better patient care and reaching a higher level of contentment with patients.
Company
Now that it is clear who we want to reach, it is time to decide on how to this. As a young company, HEKcite would obviously need some sort of start capital. Perhaps starting as a spin off from our very own university KU Leuven would be a good starting point, while the technology is further developed. Their experience with transferring technology to the market could be of great importance for HEKcite.
During the first years of being in business, the technology will still have to be further developed and investors will be needed to fund further research and eventual clinical trials for the device. As a way of surviving the “valley of death” (a concept that describes the period of time in a new product development where more money is spent than received, this period is known to be longer for medical devices than for any other), HEKcite could first sell the device to labs for in vitro tests, while the company goes through the regulatory affairs needed for implanting the device and using it in vivo. This is based on the business principle of “plucking the low hanging fruit” first.
For further research in the first years of HEKcite, the company could again collaborate with the university for the use of specialized labs and equipment. HEKcite will continue the partnership with imec or other nanotechnology centers to further minimize and optimize the multi-electrode array. For more information on the working of the HEKcite device, please navigate to the design page. While still in development, HEKcite could make use of an advice board with several third-party field specialists to reach technology goals.
As stated before there are no competitors on the market yet that can measure medication concentration in the blood continuously. The current solution for measuring blood level concentrations is the withdrawal of blood by medical staff every few weeks, months, … This is of course not continuous, which illustrates the unique selling point of HEKcite. For more information about the advantages of continuous monitoring, be sure to check our (?) page. Only one attempt is currently known to be made for obtaining a device that can monitor drugs continuously. The project is called NanoDem, by the company ProbeScientific. This project is known to have received almost four million euros by the European Commission1, illustrating the demand for bringing such a device on the market. One could say the action in this field is taking place now, and HEKcite is excited to be a part of it.
HEKcite’s goal is to provide a device for implantation and an easy to use app to go with this. HEKcite itself could be the distributor for these products or we could take part in a collaboration with a large pharmaceutical company, making use of their existing client database to immediately reach higher numbers of customers. Partner deals with other companies will also have to take place to provide HEKcite with the membranes and integrated circuits still needed for the device.
With respect to intellectual property, HEKcite will patent the device and trademark the name.
