Founder of start-up behind made-in-S'pore HFMD
kit helps scientists push out products
Lab
scientists may make groundbreaking discoveries or invent wonderful devices that
are lifesavers for humankind.
But these
may not put bread on the table and the world may never benefit if were not for
the efforts of people like Dr Kevin Koh.
The
35-year-old founder of local start-up Vivo Diagnostics spots good innovations,
and works with their inventors and scientists to take them from lab to market -
a process that can cost millions of dollars and take up to a decade to
complete.
His
current projects include commercialising a made-in-Singapore hand, foot and
mouth disease (HFMD) test kit.
Current
models in the market test for the disease using blood and return results in a
few hours. But Dr Koh is in the midst of commercialising a home-use kit that
uses saliva and gives the result in 15 minutes. The kit was developed by
researchers from Singapore Polytechnic last year.
It is
expected to undergo clinical trials at the end of the year.
Dr Koh,
who founded the start-up in 2013, said his interest in commercialising
innovations grew when he was working as an investment director with a medical
sciences venture capital fund in Britain.
The
company looked at investing in biotech and medtech innovations as well as
creating university spin-offs, among others.
"You've
got to find the diamond in the rough," he said.
"There
are so many universities, research institutions, where do you start? For all
you know, it could be a small university that pushes out something
incredible."
Vivo
Diagnostics focuses on taking to market medical devices that are especially
relevant to Asia.
In
Singapore, the Ministry of Health has said that HFMD is a common endemic
childhood disease and outbreaks can be expected from time to time.
Symptoms
of HFMD include mouth ulcers, fever and sore throat. The viral infection is
spread by contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.
In May,
the number of weekly cases hit a four-year high. While the effects of the virus
are usually mild, a more serious strain called EV71 can result in death.
Apart
from the HFMD kit, other products in Vivo's pipeline include a sleek
deep-cavity surgical lighting device so that surgeons need not wear headlamps
when performing surgical procedures.
Dr Koh is
collaborating with the National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore General
Hospital and the medical division of a large Japanese multinational corporation
on this project.
Scientists
often start off wanting to achieve research outcomes, without necessarily
thinking about what makes "good business".
This is
where Dr Koh steps in. Once he sees potential in a product, he advises the
scientists on how it should be patented, or whether extra tests are needed
before it can be pushed out to the market. The firm also provides the funding
needed to take it to market.
Professor
Gerry George, dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore
Management University, said that researchers could face multiple issues in
trying to take their research beyond the lab.
Most
biotech discoveries have few immediate applications, said Prof George, who
added: "Consequently, you are looking at a long gestation cycle as well as
requiring significant complementary assets to make it work.
"Trying
to commercialise these inventions would mean that you are dependent on other
partners who have the capabilities to conduct clinical trials, for
example."
Dr Tan
Eng Lee, centre director of Singapore Polytechnic's Centre for Biomedical and
Life Sciences, led the research team that developed the HFMD kit. He said that
finding the right partner to commercialise the product is most important.
"There
are many companies which know the market well, but it can be challenging to
find one which appreciates our innovations and believes that they can be
further developed and commercialised for the benefit of the community,"
said Dr Tan.
Dr Koh
said being in this line of work enables him to take more products to market,
compared with what he could have done alone as a researcher.
He
graduated with a PhD in biomedical engineering at Imperial College London in
2011.
He said:
"I specialise in only one field. There would be only a finite number of
products I could come up with."
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