Military Technology to Medical Tattoo
Case Study for my entrepreneurship class project, MedTat
As a part of my NSF I-Corps entrepreneurship class, I was a part 5 student team that created a strategy to commercialize a federal technology. This was a challenging project which we were expected to finish in 7 weeks without a technical background to the industry. I took the liberty of taking a project management role and product development.
Advisor: Professor Siri Terjessen
Challenge
We were assigned the US Navy’s WBAN (Wide Body Area Network) — a patent for the wireless transfer of biometric data from the body to a centralized network.
We had to transform a non-physical agent into a product that is understood by the consumer market. The original intention of WBAN’s research was for the aging market. It has the ability to monitor data like ECG, EEG, blood pressure, temperature, and glucose from inside or outside the body.
We developed MedTat, an experience which a diabetes patient scans a functional, bio-sensor tattoo from their mobile device. This allows patients to monitor their health without the traditional way of pricking their finger.
30.3 million Americans have diabetes since 2017 according to the CDC and the presence of diabetes among the younger patients will grow. Innovation will not catch up in the next few years to stagnate this growth.
Entrepreneurship in the area of medicine will inevitably face the barriers of policy and regulation. In that case, the success of MedTat has already beaten its competitors with its foundation on the WBAN FedTech.
MedTat treats the skin as an interactive display which bio data is transferred wirelessly.
MedTat is a multi-modal platform for the relationship between patient-to-provider. It begins with an app that monitors the following biodata: blood sugar, insulin, carbs, and A1C. The bio-sensor tattoo contains information on the biodata which stays temporarily on the skin. The tattoo can be any kind of design. We decided it’s efficient if the designs can translate the biodata into information.
The MedTat tattoo designs are decoded by scanning through an app. Besides the app’s functionalities, the biodata is shown in an analytical dashboard and information is immediately viewable from the patient’s device which your provider also has access to track alongside with the patient.
Product Process
Competitive Analysis
The current, “innovative” glucose monitors are generally painful to implant and disturbing to patients. Many patients are nervous and uncomfortable enough with their diagnosis, let alone the thought of having a small metal rod impaled into their eyelid. So, none of these technologies have been particularly successful.
There is a new technology developed by an Israeli firm called GlucoTrack, which allows patients to monitor their glucose without pricking their finger, but, they have to clip the monitor onto their ear. However, they have not been approved by the FDA and it is not a continuous monitor.
Our value proposition is the collaboration with MIT’s project “Dermal Abyss.” Researchers developed bio-sensing ink that changes color. The color is information that reveals the presence of biodata.
Customer Research
Our team spoke with potential customers in order to empathize with the potential market for the elderly and children demographic.
As a vulnerable group, the questions asked below helped formulate our assumptions:
- At what point in the day do you feel like you need to check your glucose levels?
- How much does your blood sugar fluctuate throughout the day and your lifestyle?
- How often do you ask questions to your provider?
Additionally, we collected the perspective from a provider:
- How do you keep your patients accountable for taking their own insulin? Rate the level of trust you have with your patient 0–10
- What is the onboarding process like for Insulin Therapy?
- What is your workflow like when you check on your patients' information?
In total we interviewed, 20 prospective customers, 3 prospective consumers (5 of which were Gen Z and Millenials), and two healthcare professionals.
In summary, Our interviewees are willing to improve their current diabetic process if it doesn’t significantly disrupt their current day-to-day lifestyle. There was no objection to the inconvenience for the presence of a temporary bio-monitoring tattoo. People recognized its primary function as a medical reason, not aesthetic. For instance, most African cultures find tattoos culturally acceptable if it’s a representation of a tribe, but condemn the mainstream definition. In the Jewish faith, people cannot burried with a tattoo.We discovered that there are various definitions for what is an acceptable tattoo in different cultures. MedTat becomes the exception because the tattoos are temporary and assist on a person’s longevity.
The two most enticing points of difference may be our competitive pricing and relatively painless information collection/delivery approach: bio sensitive temporary tattoos.
Existing Diabetes Apps
In addition to formal reports, we combed through Reddit boards and the Better Business Bureau, to see what consumers had to say about the competition. Specific meters that included an app or app/subscription are detailed and contrasted in the table below:
Most popular meters with apps do not have all the functions we do, the most competitive would be One Drop. One Drop has a $195 per month subscription fee which makes it 1625% more expensive than MedTat and includes less than half of our features. It is also important to note that NONE of the apps above are syncing with a continuous glucose monitor.
MedTat will be the cheapest method of continuous glucose monitoring by over $90 a month compared to the current least expensive option. Medtat will only need to tattoo the skin twice a year, without the need to remove old implants, which has shown to be a severe deterrent of current constant glucose measuring designs (Reddit, 2018).
There are possible repercussions of these monitoring meters…
Diabetic patients find themselves spending about $5 a day on monitoring their blood which equates to $1,280 a year, excluding the cost of test strips and medicine. As a result, many patients around the world find themselves sharing or reusing needles in order to cut cost. We identified this as a need to reduce the constant extraction of blood in diabetics and through this became aware of a market for our product.
Since the majority of people still have to extract blood in order to check their blood sugar and insulin levels, leaving some patients vulnerable to blood-transmitted diseases such as Hepatitis, HIV, and AIDS.
First Iteration
My team presented my first prototype to our class of 30 students. It’s more conceptual than functional since I am aware that I didn’t know any technical information that needs to be involved. However, I was able to gather what people needed to understand when using the MedTat App.
In conclusion, students were very concerned about the tech -savviness for elderly patients’ on-boarding and understanding of the scan.
Challenges to face in the market
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
On average, the FDA takes approximately 177 days to approve a device (Emergo Group). This could be an issue to our desired target deadline.
Training and Onboarding Process
Ideally, the application will be as intuitive as possible, however, older patients will need more guidance. Like our test earlier, students don’t trust older patients on understanding quickly as we would expect.
Emergency
Call center or informing specialists on app troubleshooting for customers who encounter problems or have questions about the product is essential.
Retrospective
Our competitive advantage lies in constant glucose monitoring and information syncing between the monitor and a mobile app, readability and legibility(from the tattoo), price and relatively painless information delivery. Currently, no existing glucose monitors automatically sync with health apps or have their own automatically syncing health app. All of these functions are already approved by the government since they’ve been pieced together from previous products, including our federal technology WBAN.
I would continue to research accuracy on our product if we could push this to a more resourceful environment like a hospital. The Sibley Innovation Hub neighbors American University, my university. The Sibley Memorial Hospital incubate several projects dedicated to patients while being around patients to validate them. Since MedTat’s Market carefully caters for the vulnerable groups, children and the elderly, it’s vital that we understand their immediate health concerns.
