Transforming Women's Health Globally: Q&A with Qvin, the Innovators Behind the Revolutionary Q-Pad™
Qvin is advancing innovations in women’s health with their groundbreaking Q-Pad™. This revolutionary product utilizes menstrual blood to provide crucial health insights, aiming to enhance the lives of 2 billion menstruating individuals globally. Qvin’s mission aligns perfectly with Dendi’s own commitment to redefine healthcare through innovative technology.
In this Q&A, Qvin co-founder and CSO, Søren Therkelsen, shares the story of Qvin’s transformative work, the benefits of the Q-Pad™, and how Dendi’s informatics platform has supported their mission to improve women’s health outcomes.
What inspired you to start Qvin and develop the Q-Pad?
Qvin was inspired by our participation in a program focused on technology-driven ideas for positive impact on a billion lives. Our co-founder, Sara Nasari, started talking about the intriguing concept of utilizing menstrual blood, which ultimately drove our motivation to develop the Q-Pad™. Sharing dreams with an amazing team of people, our goal is to build an affordable, intuitive product for the 2 billion menstruating individuals globally. We want to empower them to live their best lives!
What specific health insights or benefits do you hope to provide to women through the Q-Pad?
The Q-Pad™ is designed to empower women with health insights which are traditionally unattainable by an individual. We collect samples without needles or biopsies, giving people access to health testing in the comfort of their homes. We are excited about the utility already discovered in monitoring diabetes, thyroid health, and for fertility parameters. Another standout capability is the Q-Pad’s capacity to screen for conditions like cervical cancer, facilitating early detection and intervention, which can be life-saving. But we believe the potential of the Q-Pad extends even further. Our team is continuously researching and developing methods to uncover additional health indicators. The goal is to use the Q-Pad to screen for conditions that often go undetected or are misdiagnosed, such as endometriosis, PCOS, and other gynecological cancers, including endometrial, uterine, and ovarian cancer. Ultimately, at Qvin, we envision building products that are more than the Q-Pad. We are designing a platform that provides people with invaluable insights into their health, promoting early detection, prevention, and improved management of various conditions, thereby helping them live healthier lives longer.
How does Qvin address the challenges and limitations associated with traditional pap smear testing, and what impact do you envision it having on women’s healthcare accessibility?
Traditional pap smears can be extremely uncomfortable, they are always inconvenient, costly, and require medical assistance that may deter some women from screening due to cultural or personal reasons. The Q-Pad addresses all of these challenges. Most importantly, in clinical trials, we have shown results which often outperforms traditional pap smears in detecting HR-HPV, the virus responsible for cervical cancer. Our goal is to improve the accessibility and convenience of healthcare, aiming to reach the estimated 500 million people who need annual cervical cancer screenings. We believe the Q-Pad can revolutionize the field by making essential health screenings more accessible for anyone who needs it.
Could you describe how patients are using the Qvin app and the challenges that it solves?
The Qvin app plays a vital role as a companion to the Q-Pad device. It acts as a bridge between the user and their health information, simplifying the process of registering Q-Pads and delivering laboratory results. However, the Qvin app goes beyond being a mere relay of information. Rather than just delivering a traditional lab report, the app presents an interactive, personalized health overview. It interprets the results for the user and provides actionable insights, helping them understand what steps they can take to improve their health. The Qvin app breaks down the barriers of complex medical jargon and inaccessible data, making health information more understandable and manageable. This empowers our users to take a more proactive role in their health.
In what ways has Dendi supported Qvin in achieving its goals of improving women’s health outcomes?
Dendi’s informatics platform and API suite have played a crucial role in streamlining Qvin’s infrastructure and operation. By acting as an intermediary between our self-collected samples and complex laboratory analyzers, Dendi has enabled us to optimize every step of the laboratory workflow and tailored our unique use case. The platform ensures that we generate accurate, timely results, which is fundamental to our mission. Moreover, Dendi’s seamless integration with our software has helped us make our services more efficient and user-friendly, leading to better, more informed health decisions for the people we serve.
What were the key features or functionalities of Dendi’s platform that made it a fit for Qvin’s needs?
Dendi’s platform brought two fundamental elements to the table for Qvin: interoperability and customization. The hardware fondly referred to as “the dongle”, functions as an adaptable ‘middleware’ between the analyzer and our APIs, allowing us to seamlessly integrate with diverse lab equipment. This analyzer-agnostic feature was a critical factor in our choice, given our broad range of use cases in laboratory equipment. Looking forward, Dendi’s platform is instrumental in achieving our global vision of making the Q-Pad accessible worldwide. All we need is a laboratory partner, and the dongle “does the rest”. The flexibility and adaptability of the platform align perfectly with our objective to bring essential health screening to every corner of the earth.
Are there any exciting new developments that you can share?
Absolutely, there’s always something exciting happening at Qvin! We’re on the brink of a significant breakthrough – the anticipated FDA clearance of the Q-Pad. This achievement is the fruit of nearly a decade of diligent work and innovation, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s a milestone that will open the door to enhanced women’s health outcomes on a broader scale. So, stay tuned for the official announcement
Learn more at Qvin.com.
Update: Jan, 2024 – Qvin’s Q-Pad receives FDA clearance for A1c testing.
