New healthcare initiatives in the U.S. and Europe are looking beyond innovation of medical devices in developed countries for long-term growth. The concept of using India as a test bed to expand into new markets is not new, and indeed, any emerging market, including China, Indonesia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are prime candidates for this purpose.
To date, American medical device companies’ approach to enter and expand in India or other such countries address the higher socio-economic segments of society via top private hospitals and high-end physicians in major cities, and this has worked well for the richest five or ten percent of residents in emerging countries. However, billions of patients, and the doctors who serve them, have unmet needs that have been overlooked.
But this is beginning to change, and startups in the medtech industry are using various approaches to introduce innovation for these large, under-served populations.
Recognizing that less than four percent of women in developing countries undergo any screening for potentially deadly disease pf breast cancer, POC Medical Systems of Livermore, Calif., has invented a sub-$2,000 device that can screen for breast cancer in less than 15 minutes, at a cost of less than $10 per test. CEO Sanjeev Saxena explains that the MammoAlert device is a multiplexed, microfluidics-based, immunoassay test that leverages big data for diagnosis, and the company expects to perform millions of breast cancer screenings in western India over the next two years.
Los Angeles-based Stasis Labs recently won business from a major hospital chain in India for its vital signs patient monitoring system. The Stasis Monitoring System alerts nurses to deteriorating patients and allows for clinical intervention before a critical event happens. Indian hospitals simply pay for usage of the Stasis Devices.
“We built something incredibly simple and it doesn’t require any resources from our customers except for an outlet for power. If the location has intermittent electric power, there is battery backup. Humidity, dust and so on, it’s also protected from that. Intermittent cellular and Wi-Fi connection, that’s ok. It still works,” said Stasis president Michael Maylahn. “Designing with these in mind were critical for the Indian market. We also built it with enough robustness and scalability that it can meet more intense customer demands that can work in a small town in India, or a bustling Indian metro.”
POC Medical and Stasis are not burdened with high-cost sales forces and distributor models. Their products leverage technology and software that benefit from prior or current use in high volumes of consumer electronics. The new breed of medical device companies holds promise for the entire world. Large and established medtech companies need to pay close attention to such competitors, and to carefully consider partnerships, acquisitions, and their own product strategies in the context of this market approach.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
