Carving a niche in the surgery

With robotics gaining ground swiftly in the surgical space, Chennai-based Perfint Healthcare is trying to carve a niche for itself in cancer surgery.

Started by S. Nandakumar and his former colleagues from GE Healthcare, Perfint manufactures robotic targeting systems that help a surgeon perform biopsy, drug delivery, fluid drainage and tumour ablation with precision and accuracy.

Perfint’s ‘Piga’, ‘Robio’ and ‘Maxio’ devices are used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer of the liver, lung, bone and kidney.

“Oncology procedures are today predominantly performed manually. Unless clinicians are experienced, there is always an element of trial and error in placing the needle in the exact position. Our devices help doctors place the needle in target areas that are difficult to reach,” explains Nandakumar, CEO of Perfint.

Prior to this, Nandakumar has had stints in investment banking, business finance and IT. He had started his career with GE Healthcare in Bangalore in 1993, after completing his management course in IIM Lucknow. In 2002, he left GE to join an investment banking firm. A year later, Nandakumar moved to Cognizant, Chennai as director for business process excellence.

But his heart still belonged to healthcare IT. The pull was so strong that he left Cognizant in 2005 to start Perfint.

“Not just because of my stint at GE Healthcare, but even from my engineering days I have been interested in bio-medical. My projects were all in bio-medical electronics. So when I went out of healthcare and did other things, I wasn’t comfortable,” says Nandakumar.

Perfint was started in 2005 as an R&D services company doing technology development for other medical equipment manufacturers.

Over time, Perfint transformed itself into a medical equipment manufacturer.

Perfint manufactures its devices at its facility in Sholinganallur, in Chennai. It also sources from an exclusive vendor in the same area.

Perfint’s devices are used by over 140 clinicians from top hospitals and diagnostic centres across India, South Asia, South Africa, Australia, West Asia, Asia Pacific, Russia, and Europe. In India, AIIMS, Jaslok, PGI Chandigarh, Jipmer and Sree Chitra Tirunal are some of the top hospitals that use its devices.

The company has offices in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Turkey and Thailand. It also has an advanced research centre in Seattle. Offices are coming up in Dubai and Amsterdam.

Perfint’s main competitors are Philips and GE. But they use electro-magnetic guidance for needle placement, while Perfint uses robotics. “Robotics surgery is going to be the way forward, especially for critical procedures which require greater skill of execution and accuracy. Monotonous routine jobs will lead to fatigue and mistakes. But robotics will only aid in execution. It will not replace planning, which still has to be done by doctors,” says Nandakumar.

Currently, its devices work with CT scanners. In the future, Perfint wants its devices to be compatible with ultrasound systems too.

Big challenge

But the challenge is in getting talent in India, rues Nandakumar.

“Younger talent are still into IT. That is why we set up an advanced research centre in Seattle, which has a clinical community that is so used to working with start-up companies. In India, it is just about starting. Companies focused on R&D, product development are very few.”

While talent has been hard to find, Perfint has managed to attract VC firms. The company has received four rounds of funding totalling $27 million, from IDG Ventures, Erasmic and Norwest Venture Partners. In the next twelve months, it is looking for more funding as it expands to North America and China.

“China is a more evolved market than India. The medical systems here are evolved. Affordability is there. The Government is also willing to spend. Last year, the Chinese Government approved a $4-billion investment just for liver diseases. When you demonstrate value to customer, the market is huge. We may even look at a manufacturing unit in China in 2-3 years,” signs off Nandakumar.

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