Chennai: With more and more awareness being created in the preventive healthcare sector, it has opened new doors for conducting research and developing instruments.
One such attempt to offer personalised genetic testing is Indus Health Plus’ recently launched DNAwise – a saliva based user-friendly test kit that can be done at home. It decodes the genetic makeup and generates a report through which one can understand the health risks and personalise diet and fitness according to what suits them the best.
News Today spoke to the company’s joint managing director, Amol Naikawadi to know about the recent trends in the preventive healthcare sector.
Needs and gains
On the need for technological advancement in the preventive healthcare sector, Naikawadi said, “It plays an important role to control and reduce non-communicable diseases which are on the rise in India. Due to the increase of lifestyle diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart ailments among the Indian population irrespective of the age, preventive healthcare has become an absolute essential.”
“Treatments are expensive and the survivals rates for people with a disease like cancer are extremely low because of late detection. Hence, it is important to understand the potential risk of lifestyle diseases and go for regular and timely screenings,” Naikwadi said.
“With the launch of DNAwise, we are advancing our mission to make healthcare accessible, available and affordable. We believe that the culture of prevention and healthy wellbeing should start at an early age,” he added.
As it is designed for all age groups and has 60 parameters related to health, nutrition and fitness, the company stated it will invest around 75 crore over the next three-four years. The funds would be directed for product development and making it accessible.
Future trends
When asked about future trends, Naikawadi stated that personalised genetic testing market in India is on a growing curve. Even though the base too small but the global trends are encouraging.
“For the next three to five years the focus will be on awareness. A country like India where 55.4 per cent of deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), a personalised genetic test will help in identifying risk factors and thereby take preventive measures. Acceptance by all the stakeholders will go up over the years that will further the growth,” Naikawadi stated.
He added, “It is expected that doctors and other stakeholders will start asking for genetic data of a person the way they ask for allergies or vitals before advising further treatment and medications. Technology in this space will continuously evolve which will play a very important role. Healthcare is moving from ‘one thing fits all’ concept to ‘personalised healthcare’. There is very limited data on the genetic makeup of Indians. DNAwise will help India decode its citizens’ healthcare across the spectrum and develop based on that information.”
Booming market
On the market value of the sector, Indus Health Plus joint managing director, Amol Naikawadi, said, “In India, the healthcare sector is gradually moving from curative to preventive healthcare. With rising awareness levels both in the urban and rural areas and increasing disposable incomes, the coming decade is expected to witness increased demand for preventive healthcare. The preventive healthcare market in India is witnessing growth at 18 per cent CAGR.”
The proportion of preventive healthcare in the entire industry is around five to seven per cent, he added