Surgical platform UltraGreen targets Asia for growth
Now, with Singapore in the centre of its plans, UltraGreen is looking to tap the sizeable Asian market for growth.
The company's fluorescent dye and artificial intelligence (AI) platform gives surgeons an 'inside look' into living tissue, by measuring and monitoring blood flow in the human tissue.
'If I can stitch the colon at a better place, I know the chances of any stomach leaks – which can cause sepsis and death – reduce dramatically, so that information becomes valuable for them,' Ravinder Sajwan, co-CEO of UltraGreen told The Business Times.
The dye used by UltraGreen, indocyanine green, has been around since 1959 and has been certified as safe for humans and leaves the body in eight to 20 minutes.
The company first funded a company in the US that would inject the dye, then fixed the supply chain by locking down suppliers and the drug master file, a document used for regulatory approvals.
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Along with the dye, UltraGreen has partnered medical equipment providers to use their cameras to capture perfusion data, which allows doctors to assess blood flow. This data is then uploaded to UltraGreen's AI platform for surgeons to review in real time as they carry out procedures.
The International Society for Fluorescence Guided Surgery (IFGS) works with UltraGreen to enhance and advance surgical applications for the dye.
Growth has been quick, from about 20,000 vials of dye sold in 2016 to about a million vials sold in 2024.
'So it kind of shows that when you make something available, consistent and with quality behind it, and you can scale, that's when the use cases start,' said Sajwan.
UltraGreen has competition in the space, but it has a leg up, having received regulatory approval in over 40 countries. The company has an in-house team focusing solely on securing such approvals.
Clinical trials for UltraGreen's product are also different, since its dye has already been tested and does not need to undergo testing for its effects on humans. Rather than having to do trials on hundreds or thousands of patients, enough data can be gleaned from 20 patients to show whether the dye can be used for a specific medical application.
Zooming in on Asia
One of these applications UltraGreen is looking at is diabetic foot ulcers – open wounds that develop due to nerve damage and poor blood circulation. This is a growing concern in Asia, where UltraGreen is looking to focus.
Treating diabetic foot ulcers is tricky, as patients often see a doctor multiple times before they are diagnosed. Treatment might take some time, since it involves an MRI scan and a procedure by a vascular surgeon to restore blood flow to the foot.
In some countries, the wait might take months; by then, the foot would likely have already turned gangrenous, necessitating some form of amputation.
UltraGreen's dye, camera and software platform can help quickly diagnose if the foot ulcer is due to poor blood flow and prevent such situations that could arise due to delays in diagnosis.
The company is looking to tap the South-east Asian market for wound management, and is heading into the region with a different business model.
Rather than having a healthcare institution buy the expensive camera to view the dye in a patient, UltraGreen is looking to build a camera system that can be provided for free; it would then charge on a per-procedure basis.
'We can give you analysis much earlier in the life cycle of the wound, and then we have a software platform which helps you manage the wound,' said Sajwan.
Focusing on Asia will require the right framework, as well as a bigger team, which UltraGreen is building up in regulatory and sales roles in Singapore.
The company is also looking to run a multi-country clinical trial for lung cancer detection, both within the region – including in Singapore, Japan, India and the Philippines – as well as in Europe.
Besides growing its team in Singapore, UltraGreen is also seeking to bring some of its manufacturing to the Republic, to cater to the demand it foresees in the region.
In addition, the company is looking to establish a plant in Singapore for the production of its dye. The bulk of its production involves freeze-drying to extend its shelf life, then labelling and distribution, all of which UltraGreen hopes to tackle here.
'We are also planning to build a powder plant in Singapore,' Sajwan said, adding that this facility will take 'a little longer because it requires more certification'.
The co-CEO said UltraGreen is currently profitable, but there might be some fundraising on the horizon to accelerate its market penetration.
In South-east Asia, where the plan is to lease cameras to healthcare institutions, more capital might be needed to seed the devices in the market.
Singapore is not being ruled out as a potential location for an initial public offering, but the company will be strategic in where it decides to list. Sajwan wants investors who are in it for the long run, rather than just taking a punt and selling when the price moves up.
'If the Asean market is where I'm going to see the largest growth, then I should be looking at potentially Asean as a place to be,' he added.
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