AarogyaAI: Leverages contemporary technology and sciences to combat fatal infectious diseases!

Systematic integration of technology has utterly revamped the way medical care is conferred to patients, enhancing patient-physician interaction, and making healthcare more accessible & flexible than before. At the current set of circumstances where the entire world is grappling with a healthcare crisis, technology like Artificial Intelligence has helped in reducing the time spent in executing healthcare management activities at the fraction of the price.

Healthtech startup AarogyaAI is using AI-enabled software for expediting diagnosis and enabling personalized treatment within a few hours. Founded by two promising innovative women entrepreneurs Dr. Praapti Jayaswal and Avlokita Tiwari, AarogyaAI will combat lethal infectious diseases like Tuberculosis and develop an AI-driven software to diagnose Drug-resistant Tuberculosis, expediting the process of diagnosis and effective treatment.

AarogyaAI is one of the six startups that have graduated from the India Edison™ Accelerator, Cohort 2- GE Healthcare’s second startup-collaboration program that intends to nurture the startup ecosystem and work with them to create innovative and effective healthcare solutions.

The AarogyaAI software innovated by the company is deployed in the GE Edison platform. It is empowered with a Machine Learning algorithm that has the ability to make sense of complex genomic data and output an easy to comprehend drug sensitivity report which augments clinical decision-making. Thus, each patient’s antibiotic prescriptions are customized to their specific need.

“Artificial intelligence helps convert large amounts of complex data to concise factoids that can augment a doctor’s clinical decision making. The AarogyaAI’s SaaS requires minimal infrastructure and basic training to operate and can report a copper-bottomed patient’s drug susceptibility status in a few hours,” states Dr. Praapti Jayaswal, Co-Founder & CEO, AarogyaAI.

Since inception, AarogyaAI has created a buzz in the ecosystem. The firm has secured investment from one of the largest genomics companies in the world, Illumina Inc., USA. In 2019, the team at AarogyaAI was awarded the Best Pitch by Shakti – The Empathy Project. It made its way to be a part of the San Francisco-based Illumina Accelerator Program in 2020. In March 2020, AarogyaAI also won the BIRAC TiE WInER Award which is accredited to Women in Entrepreneurial Research by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

In addition, winning awards like the Indo-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Challenge, organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and getting on board in the GE Healthcare’s Indian Edison^TM Accelerator platform has gained it national as well as international level recognition.

“We established AarogyaAI in 2019, with the sole purpose of revolutionizing the method of treating Tuberculosis and saving lives. We have partnered with leading diagnostic labs & hospitals in India for building & validating the product. Eventually, we aim to anticipate the evolution, nature, and pattern of the bacteria, along with predicting the future drug resistance structure. We leverage AI/ML and genomics, to rapidly and comprehensively diagnose drug resistance in infectious diseases. We also intend to use AI, ML, and IoT technologies to ensure that patients even in the most remote corner of India, have access to the latest diagnostics and treatment options,” states Avlokita Tiwari, Co-Founder, AarogyaAI.

With a vision to contribute to ending tuberculosis globally, the founders are driven by the concept of translation of research into real-world application. AarogyaAI envisions assimilating years of research to combat antimicrobial resistance in infectious diseases. The company wants to employ cutting-edge technology – genomics and AI to ensure patients are provided precision diagnosis to enable effective medication. The intention is to collaborate with centers from different geographical locations in India, and abroad; and expand the database on more first and second-line anti-TB drugs. The AarogyaAI solution will be able to predict new mutations that confer drug resistance in the bacteria. AarogyaAI aims to impact human health and build facilities where no one is subjected to incorrect medication and is left to deal with very harmful side effects.

“AarogyaAI is on a vision to develop a time and cost-effective test for the drug-resistant tuberculosis. Their technology will go a long way in addressing the appropriate management of the disease burden and potentially contributing to the ending of the TB epidemic by 2030, which is one of the heath targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” Abhijit Patil, Senior Director – AI & Analytics: Advanced Technology Group @ GE Healthcare and India EdisonTM Accelerator Cohort 2 Mentor.