Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Vivek Mishra : Silk is one of the oldest fibres known to man, it has a history as the richest fabric itself! There are silk sarees which are more than 100years old and are used for many generations even today; which highlight its excellent fabric and material property. When it comes to exploring its non-textile use, the application of Silk in the medical field started in the 19th century when it replaced traditional metal wires as a suture material.
Today, Silk is studied extensively for its biomedical use. It is the most diverse, model biomaterial due to its remarkable properties like high mechanical strength, biocompatible, non cytotoxic, thermo-stable, low-immunogenic and biodegradable. These unique properties of Silk, spurred our research to use it as a newer and safer biomaterial for tissue regeneration, supporting cellular functions for faster healing and closure of wounds.
I always had a desire to do something new and challenging which can impact many lives and this gave a birth to “Fibroheal – Silk protein derived wound management solutions”. The purpose to start the venture was to solve a genuine problem of acute and chronic non-healing wounds and the need gap in the wound care management. When we started our journey, we found our co-promoter Bharat Tandon who had built a company in animal health space and it was of great help in terms of various networks particularly towards product development. Also, along the journey, we got our other co-promoter Subramanian S. who had built 2nd largest suture manufacturing company and brought rich experience of medical devices industry, good networks and we started galloping towards our vision.
Secondly, we at FIBROHEAL WOUNDCARE PVT LTD always wanted to bring socio-economic multiplier effect with our innovation and work i.e from Silk growers (farmers side), surgeons (user side) and patients. As India is the second largest silk producing country in the world after China. More than 80 lakh people are directly or indirectly dependent on Sericulture farming and it is used primarily in textiles. “If biomaterial application gains traction, it may lead to an increase in farmers’ incomes, in addition to bringing down treatment costs through the use of innovative, indigenous technology, and healing wounds quickly with improved outcomes and quality of life.
Thirdly, due to increasing ageing population worldwide and the high prevalence of lifestyle diseases and chronic diseases among the elderly and high cost of treatment, we wanted to work on newer biomaterial which can be cost effective and affordable for patients and at the same time decrease the load on hospitals and ease the work of doctors / nursing staff with faster turnaround time.
Great Companies: What are the various products and services provided by FIBROHEAL WOUNDCARE PVT. LTD.
Vivek Mishra : FIBROHEAL WOUNDCARE PVT. LTD. products cater to the advance and active wound care category. We offer products in different forms such as sheet, mesh, foam, powder, particles, gel, ointment etc, to treat acute and chronic wounds, infected, non-infected, slow healing, non-healing and difficult to heal wounds. Great Companies: What makes FIBROHEAL WOUNDCARE PVT. LTD. different from hundreds of Healthcare Startups?
Vivek Mishra :
· We are the first company from India and few in the world to be working on this versatile biomaterial called “Silk proteins”, which gives us the leverage of being pioneers in using Silk proteins as biomaterial for wound healing.
· Our research work is well appreciated by the government and supported by Grants. We are supported by Dept. of Biotechnology Govt. of India, BIRAC, CCAMP, Dept. of IT, BT & ST GoK, Technology Development Board (TDB) Govt. of India etc.
· We have patented technological products in our basket.
· We have won prestigious awards like;
a. National Technology Award 2020
b. Best IP Managed MedTech Start-up 2021
c. Start-up of the Year 2020
d. The most innovative biotech start-up 2019
· Technical expertise, young and dynamic team in place with experienced and stable management
· We have developed more than 10 products since inception and the products are successfully commercialized in the market.
· We as a company have a clear road map to develop products to address to different stages of wounds comprehensively.
· Very few Indian companies are working in medical devices which has its own research. We are a R&D driven deep-tech start-up having science at its core.
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Vivek Mishra : It has been an enterprising journey but every struggle and challenge helped us to become a better organization. Few which I want to highlight is doubting your ideas certain times, few wrong hires, handling egos and conflicts among people, dealing with different external stakeholders. Becoming emotional about certain decisions or ideas can be detrimental to your peace, decision making ability and your venture.
I realized that the fund crunch, regulatory approvals or sales and business developments, maintaining liquidity which you initially worry about hampers the company’s growth, but the people, their commitment, their egos and their openness to take it as a challenge and building up a company is what counts.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for FIBROHEAL WOUNDCARE PVT. LTD.?
Vivek Mishra : We aspire to be one of the most comprehensive wound care Indian company catering to entire gamut of wound management, offering comprehensive solutions to entire wound care continuum. We want to set a perfect example of “Being Local Going Global” which is in line with our prime ministers’ vision of “Vocal for Local” & “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Vivek Mishra : Overall, to build a startup, I feel, passion is the main key and letting go of few things and situations should not be allowed to occupy space in your head is the key. You need to face challenges yet be brave and prudent while maintaining a positive approach.