Difference between revisions of "Team:NCKU Tainan/Entrepreneurship"

Line 579: Line 579:
 
               <div class="d-flex flex-column flex-md-row justify-content-between mb-2">
 
               <div class="d-flex flex-column flex-md-row justify-content-between mb-2">
 
                     <div class="flex-grow-1">
 
                     <div class="flex-grow-1">
                       <p> 1. Dynamically</p>
+
                       <p> 1. Dynamically: Eye kNOw can sense the IOP fluctuation</p>
                         <p> 2. Innovative</p>
+
                         <p> 2. Innovative: Eye kNOw combines contact lens with Synthetic Biology</p>
                         <p> 3. User-friendly</p>
+
                         <p> 3. User-friendly: Eye kNOw is easy to use and has no complicated storage method</p>
                         <p> 4. Affordable</p>
+
                         <p> 4. Affordable: The price of Eye kNOw is in the range of 800~1000 NTD</p>
 
                    
 
                    
 
               </div>
 
               </div>

Revision as of 23:26, 27 October 2020


Entrepreneurship

A big business starts small

Overview

This year, iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 used synthetic biology to create Eye kNOw, a pair of contact lenses that can provide a groundbreaking treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), which is an ocular disease that causes irreversible damage to the optic nerve. Affecting almost 80 million people worldwide, it is the first leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. POAG is usually caused by high intraocular pressure (IOP) in the eyes. Eye kNOw aims to solve it from the root. With our genetically engineered bacteria, that is capable of releasing drugs dynamically according to one's IOP and lower down the IOP.

To bring our vision and mission into reality, engaging with the customers and stakeholders is crucial. Thus, we conducted a survey to know more about how our customers think about contact lenses and glaucoma to identify more toward our market segmentation and target audiences. Through this survey, we not only collected the data about the habit of customers about wearing contact lenses but also discovered an enormous problem - people are not familiar with glaucoma. Hence, we did a lot of Human Practice events to raise and promote public awareness of glaucoma. In order to fully visualize the future of our product, we asked Camax Optical Corporation and Trade Wind Biotech for their experiences and guidance to learn about mass production and how to sell our product. Aiming to realize our project from the laboratory and apply it in the real market, we incorporated the advice and feedback from enterprises to establish a business model and a business plan for our project.

With all the efforts above, we can understand consumer’s needs and implement our project through establishing Eyesaac Biotechnologies.

Consideration

Development and implementation.

Visualize-Design-Test

Strengths and Threats.

Business plan

Realizing through a plan.

Value

The value of our product.

Future:

Future development.



WHAT WE HAVE?

  • Consideration: Development and implementation.
  • Visualize-Design-Test: Strengths and Threats.
  • Business plan: Realizing through a plan.
  • Value: The value of our product.
  • Future: Future development.

Consideration

We considered the core value of our products by combining what value consumers want and keep in mind when making the products. Following this value, we start to develop our project and realize our project.

Clinical Trial Phase

After consulting with College X, who provided guidance on business, we determined our product as a medical device and studied the national and foreign law about the implementation.

Patent Regulatio

According to the research conducted for clinical trial phase, we decided to follow the regulation of medical device and applied to the patents below:

Based on Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, Prices for patent per 2020:

1. Design patent application: 3,000 NTD (104.96 USD)

(1) Request for the application converted into invention patent: 3,000 NTD

(2) Granted Invention Patent fee:

A. 1st-3rd year, 800 NTD annually.

B. 4th-6th year, 2,000 NTD annually.

C. 7th year and beyond, 3,000 NTD annually.

Customer Discovery

The targeted customers for Eye kNOw are mainly hospitals or other health care providers with the end-point consumers being glaucoma patients as a doctor-prescription drug, with the aim of slower down glaucoma progression, Eye kNOw will mainly be marketed and distributed by trusted distributors, and will be made available in conventional hospitals, ophthalmologist clinics, and pharmacies where it can be purchased only by the doctor’s prescription. Furthermore, prevention is better than treatment. If we can develop a new way to detect high IOP or the symptom of POAG in the early stage of it, those who have a high possibility of getting glaucoma can be our potential consumers in the future.

Customer Needs

Based on what we found from our survey for customers, discussion with ophthalmologists and considerations through a mediator that connects us with customer’s needs, here is our final design of Eye kNOw. After improvements and finalization of the products:

1. We intended to get coverage from major healthcare insurance providers, albeit national or private, around the world for the consumption of Eye kNOw to promote the use of our products. We aim to improve and enhance the patient’s life by setting up an affordable healthcare platform to increase the accessibility to anyone who requires medical advice, attention and products.

2. Considering our survey about safety, Eye kNOw will have a strong safety reassurance which is our kill switch. Because Eye kNOw contains our engineered bacteria, it is crucial to build consumer trust, which is why education about the safety and GMO products is important. Moreover,for another data from our survey and the short lifespan of our products, Eye kNOw needed to be affordable. Therefore, we designed it to have a minimum price of about $27.99~34.99 per box which is one month usage.


Visualize-Design-Test

To start Eyesaac Biotechnologies, we need a solid base foundation and have strategic plans to begin realizing our visions. Through SWOT analysis, we are able to identify and analyze the values of Eye kNOw, which we will then use to create a detailed plan to realize Eye kNOw’s vision and objectives.


Business Model Canvas:

Market Analysis

Affecting over 80 million people worldwide

To start Eyesaac Biotechnologies, we need a solid base foundation and have strategic plans to begin realizing our visions. Through SWOT analysis, we are able to identify and analyze the values of Eye kNOw, which we will then use to create a detailed plan to realize Eye kNOw’s vision and objectives.


Business Plan

Eye kNOw project is developed by iGEM NCKU Tainan, and we plan to build our own company after the competition called Eyesaac Biotechnologies. CreSolution Biotechnologies have created a business plan on how we define our visions and what steps we are going to take to successfully achieve our targets.


Value

We started by considering the value of Eye kNOw and came up with values that we will always embed in our minds when making the products.

1. Dynamically: Eye kNOw can sense the IOP fluctuation

2. Innovative: Eye kNOw combines contact lens with Synthetic Biology

3. User-friendly: Eye kNOw is easy to use and has no complicated storage method

4. Affordable: The price of Eye kNOw is in the range of 800~1000 NTD


Future

Eyesaac Biotechnologies will aim to expand the portfolio of medical products which employs our core biosensing technology to other forms of disease or medical conditions. Eyesaac Biotechnologies aims to expand the area served to cover most of the countries around the world, starting with China and Japan, which represent the largest glaucoma prevalence rates in Asia. Further expansion will be focused on the EMEA and the Americas.

The short-term goal for Project Eye kNOw is to successfully complete clinical trials and have the patents granted as soon as possible.We also aspire to change the public’s perspective on GMO synthetic biology and genetic engineering, providing accessibility and convenience to patients who require glaucoma prevention.

The long-term goals for Eyesaac Biotechnologies are to expand Eye kNOw into larger markets as well as adapting the technologies and frameworks established into treating other types of diseases such as diabetes and sepsis.


References

  1. He, X., & Liu, J. (2011). Correlation of corneal acoustic and elastic properties in a canine eye model. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 52(2), 731-736.
  2. Zhang, J., Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Chen, R., Shung, K. K., Richter, G., & Zhou, Q. (2017). Correlation of IOP with Corneal Acoustic Impedance in Porcine Eye Model. BioMed research international, 2017.
  3. AD5930 Datasheet and Product Info | Analog Devices. Analog.com. https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad5930.html#product-overview. Published 2014. Accessed October 14, 2020.
  4. Aliancy J, Stamer WD, Wirostko B. A Review of Nitric Oxide for the Treatment of Glaucomatous Disease. Ophthalmology and Therapy. 2017;6(2):221-232.
  5. Holgado MA, Anguiano-Domínguez A, Martín-Banderas L. Contact lenses as drug-delivery systems: a promising therapeutic tool. Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología (English Edition). 2020;95(1):24-33.
  6. Yañez F, Gomez-Amoza JL, Magariños B, Concheiro A, Alvarez-Lorenzo C. Hydrogels porosity and bacteria penetration: Where is the pore size threshold? Journal of Membrane Science. 2010;365(1-2):248-255.
  7. Braeken L, Ramaekers R, Zhang Y, Maes G, Bruggen BV der, Vandecasteele C. Influence of hydrophobicity on retention in nanofiltration of aqueous solutions containing organic compounds. Journal of Membrane Science. 2005;252(1-2):195-203.
  8. Wang T, He X, Li Y, Li J. Novel poly(piperazine-amide) (PA) nanofiltration membrane based poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) hollow fiber substrate for treatment of dye solutions. Chemical Engineering Journal. 2018;351:1013-1026.