We sat down with Aayush Rai, co-founder of Inito, to discuss women’s health technology. Rai explains how technology can assist in the conceiving process, from cycle tracking to fertility testing.
- Describe what your company does in 256 characters (a Tweet’s length)
Aayush Rai: “Inito is the world’s first at-home diagnostics device that allows tests on fertility, diabetes, high cholesterol and more on a single device connected to a smartphone. Starting with fertility hormone tests, Inito gives couples the power to accurately monitor their hormones and get pregnant sooner.”
- How did you get involved in this industry?
Aayush Rai: “Several of my family members and friends suffer from conditions like diabetes, hypothyroidism, fertility issues etc. for which they need to get tested and take medication for the rest of their lives. Doctors and patients alike do not want to spend time traveling to labs and incur the expense, pain, and delays associated with traditional testing. Hence, we started Inito to allow users to monitor their body at home and lead a healthier and happier life.
- What made you think of the idea/what inspired you to create your technology?
Aayush Rai: “About 45% of the U.S. population – close to 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease.”
“Not testing regularly for conditions like diabetes can lead to the condition spiraling out of control, risking life and increasing costs of care. Many other conditions, like hypothyroidism, require constant monitoring and ongoing medication.”
- How is this going to benefit people/society?
Aayush Rai: “Besides being cost effective, quick, and confidential, home use tests can help:
- Detect health conditions even before symptoms arise so that you can get early treatment and lower your chance of developing later complications such as cholesterol, hepatitis, and other STI testing. Home EKG tests can pick up atrial fibrillation long before symptoms arise.
- Detect specific conditions when there are no symptoms or signs to take immediate action, such as pregnancy testing so that you avoid alcohol intake and start prenatal vitamins.
- Monitor conditions to allow frequent changes in treatment, such as to monitor blood sugar levels in diabetes and making insulin adjustments or adjusting blood pressure medications in the case of hypertension.”
- What’s innovative about your company and technology?
Aayush Rai: “Inito’s patented ‘Flat Lens’ technology allows a single device that lets you test for fertility hormones, diabetes, vitamins, and thyroid conditions on your phone. Just use a different disposable test strip with the same device.”
- How, in your opinion, has your industry changed in the past 5 years?
Aayush Rai: “Any healthcare delivery has 3 parts:
- Doctor Consultation
- Testing
- Treatment
In the past 5 years, consulting a doctor and getting a medication delivered is a solved problem. This has led to a huge unanswered demand of testing at home.”
- What has COVID done to your company/industry? Has it been affected? Does your solution assist with the pandemic?
Aayush Rai: “The pandemic accelerated the shift to home monitoring by many years. While managing common ailments when was business was as usual wouldn’t be an issue, doctor’s visits and trips to the hospital for regular check-ups have either been put on hold or become dangerous and stressful during the pandemic.”
“There are now services available that allow online consultation with a doctor and medicine delivery to your doorstep, but you still need to go to the lab to get tests done. Inito provides a safe and effective way to perform testing during the pandemic.”
- Describe the future of your industry. What does the future hold? What is society going to look like?
Aayush Rai: “We believe that as technology sufficiently matures, every house will have a single connected device capable of conducting these tests, becoming as much a part of the household as a thermometer is today.”
“The ability to conduct home testing dovetails perfectly with online consultation and medicine delivery. With modern connected devices, patients can directly share test reports with their doctors, consult with them online, have their prescriptions renewed, and await the arrival of medicines at their doorstep.”
“Managing conditions at home will gradually become a norm, as we build out this complete ecosystem. By taking travel and waiting times out and delivering care faster, home diagnostics can save us millions of years, spent in the pursuit of our health at an equivalent or even lower cost.”
- What plans do you have coming up?
Aayush Rai: “While we have launched our fertility tests for direct-to-consumer use, we are partnering with fertility clinics & providers. This will save consumers hundreds if not thousands of dollars in lab tests while on fertility treatments.”
- What would your advice be for people trying to get into your industry?
Aayush Rai: “Building tests that can be taken at home needs to be accurate as well as easy to use. This is not just an extremely hard and complex problem technically, but also challenging from the regulatory approval perspective. Perseverance is key to entering this industry.”
In 2015 Aayush Rai and his partner Varun cofounded Inito, the world’s first comprehensive at-home diagnostics device. Inito’s ‘flat-lens’ technology allows diagnostic tests on fertility, diabetes, high cholesterol and more on a single device connected to a smartphone. The device has been tested to have a 99.12% correlation to lab-grade devices at 1/100th the cost and 1/10th the size.
