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BiliRoo

BiliRoo is a low-cost, easy-to-use, non-electric medical device for treating neonatal jaundice in low resource settings.
www.biliroo.com
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Voting Closes:

March 17, 2025 11:59 pm

About this idea
Worldwide, over 6 million neonates do not have access to the necessary phototherapy equipment to treat their moderate-to-severe jaundice due to lack of electricity and the high cost of phototherapy equipment. BiliRoo is a patent-pending novel technology that combines the clinically proven treatments of filtered sunlight phototherapy with kangaroo care - essential prolonged skin-to-skin contact between parent and child - to treat neonatal jaundice in low-resource settings. BilliRoo is non-electric, easy to use and can be manufactured for less than 1/10th the cost of conventional equipment. BiliRoo has been presented at three conferences, we have conducted bench testing, and have obtained user feedback from clinicians in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are closely collaborating with some of the world’s leading scientists and physicians for jaundice and phototherapy in low-resource settings to facilitate clinical trials to demonstrate feasibility, safety, and efficacy. Our target customers are hospitals in low-resource settings, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia because these places have the most medical need and conveniently also receive the most sun. We will likely begin selling to the hospitals where we do clinical trials and then gradually grow to other hospitals where we have strategic partners at. This is an easy-to-manufacture device and we are researching and networking with established medical device companies to leverage their existing distribution channels and customer bases for our product. BiliRoo is much more cost-effective than other current solutions on the market. For example, in Nigeria, one hospital phototherapy unit costs $2000, and even a considerably cheaper home-based solar-powered machine costs $360 per unit. Our product will be economically sustainable; each sling will cost around $10 to manufacture and $5 dollars to ship, and we plan to sell a sling for under $50.
Impact
Worldwide, it is estimated that up to 60% of full-term babies and 80% of premature babies develop jaundice during their first week of life. Jaundice is associated with high levels of bilirubin in the blood, known as hyperbilirubinemia. Typically, mild cases of jaundice resolve within 3-5 days without complications. However, 8-11% of neonates develop moderate to severe jaundice; If severe jaundice is left untreated, the unconjugated bilirubin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and can lead to encephalopathy, cerebral palsy, and even death. Due to the high costs of the machines, lack of continuous electricity, lack of replacement parts, and lack of trained personnel for implementation and maintenance, low- and middle-income countries have limited access to high quality phototherapy and consequently bear the largest burden of severe jaundice. An estimated 6 million infants with severe jaundice in low-resource settings like Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to treatment. Our objective is to give clinicians in limited resource settings a simple, non-electric, reusable yet effective tool to treat infant jaundice while simultaneously facilitating kangaroo care. Our patent-pending medical innovation is currently the only technology that combines these two treatments.On a large-scale, BiliRoo would 1) allow for neonates with severe jaundice to be treated with phototherapy despite limited resources and irregular electricity and 2) facilitate kangaroo care which would help the neonate to regulate breathing and temperature and develop important bonds between the parent and infant in the first week of life. Thus, BiliRoo has the potential to decrease significant morbidity and mortality in low resource settings due to jaundice.
What I'll do with $5,000
The $5000 will enable for BiliRoo to go into clinical trials, the necessary next step before going to market. The remaining balance will be used towards critical regulatory fees necessary to maintain intellectual property in the location where BiliRoo will be manufactured.
Quick Bio
Daniel is a senior at Calvin University studying mechanical engineering, biology, and chemistry. He grew up in the foothills of Nepal, which is part of why he founded and invented BiliRoo.
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