Mumbai based Nueclear Healthcare, a division of Thyrocare Group and GE Healthcare has raised INR 22 crores from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). Nueclear Healthcare will use the funds for making affordable PET (Positron Emission Tomography scan) accessible to cancer patients.
Following the investment, Sohil Chand, Managing Director of NVP India, will join NHL’s board of directors.
Thyrocare claims to be world’s largest thyroid testing laboratory, and has network of more than 20,000 service centers across the country, with ISO 9001-2000 certification, NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditations.
Thyrocare’s network is capable to process 100,000 tests per day in its current facilities in Mumbai.
PET scans use state-of-the-art technology and claims to be effective in accurate detection of the location of cancerous cells as well as staging of cancer, only 15-20% of cancer patients have access to these scans due to high costs.
Nueclear Healthcare plans to offer steep discounts compared to market prices through planned facility development and extremely attractive rates for purchasing equipment through its partnership with GE Healthcare. NHL’s pricing will be more than 50% below current market prices in order to generate large volumes.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in India, with about 2.5 million cancer patients, 1 million added every year with a chance of rising five-fold by 2025. Cancer can be treated and controlled if detected early – in Stage I or Stage II. However, over 70% of cancer is detected late at a very late stage in India, when treatment is less effective and costly.
Earlier this month , ASG Eye Hospitals, a Rajasthan based group of super specialty eye hospitals had raised Rs. 50 crores from Sequoia Capital. In addition, Drishti, a social enterprise providing eye care to underserved populations raised its first round of funding from Lok Capital.
According to a Venture Intelligence study, Healthcare and Life Sciences industry emerged as the second favorite destination for VC investors after IT & ITES industry, attracting 18 investments worth $98 million during the year.
