e-Fásli self-learning heat therapy device as a physical antipyretic

Dear Eunice,
Physical antipyretic (cooling a patient’s body with a wet cloth) is traditionally a female task. When a child has a fever, his mother usually spends the night next to him. A special application of the device is the attenuation of fever. Because it is automated (cools only when needed) and includes an alarm function (it sends a warning if the fever is not eliminated), it can save the mother or nurse from unnecessary vigilance.

Dear Sunday,
The original concept of the e-Fásli is a wearable medical device that runs on battery and can be charged with a micro-USB charger. In our experience, this unfortunately does not provide enough energy, especially if we want to achieve cooling over a larger body surface (e.g. in the case of fever attenuation). In the new (planned) prototype, the cooling unit will not be on the periphery, but in the central part, and we will deliver the cold to the periphery by fluid flow. This requires additional energy due to the circulation of the fluid, so mains power is required for its operation.
The user interface is currently a mobile-compatible application that runs in a web browser. Since there is no need for direct access to the phone hardware, we do not plan to build a native application. The data recorded by the software is entered into the server database and the server is directly connected to the heat therapy device. Communication goes over a Wi-Fi network (this does not require the presence of a phone like BlueTooth), so multiple devices can use the same router (e.g. in a hospital environment). In the near future, we will try a GSM network with a standalone SIM card, optimized for IoT devices.

Dear Nabuyuni,
Thank you for your kind comment. The device can be used for diseases that are specific to men only, women only, or both. Application associated with COVID-19 infection (antipyretic) affects patients of both sexes, but the tedious and lengthy process of physical antipyretic control has traditionally been a female task. For a medical device, continuous operation is the primary condition, so solar power supply is only possible with a proper battery buffer. Of course, the power source can be an alternative solution (sun, wind, human movement), but I have no experience in that field.

Dear Tafadzwa,
Thanks for the advices! I first described my invention when I was 15 years old. I built the first prototype, I drew the presentations alone. That was enough to win an international gold medal. Later, when I founded my startup company, I used professional external help for technical development (prototype engineering, programming) and marketing materials (rollup, poster, onepager). In the summer of 2019, I spent a month in Heidelberg at the EIT Health “Startups Meet Pharma” course, where we mainly learned pitch technique. Unfortunately, the first round of investment by a venture capitalist was quite small, so the last few months have been spent looking for a new investor. The operation of the company consumes so much time and money that we can only carry out technical improvements with the help of tenders. I am currently attending a Hungarian high school, I plan to go to university in the USA or the UK next year (medical or biotech). The outcome of this will determine where the startup company will have its new headquarters.

Dear Achia,
Thanks for the comment! Physical fever reduction can mean a cold tub bath (which is hard for children to tolerate) or cooling with a damp cloth. Wet clothes dry out or heat up quickly, so they need to be changed frequently over long hours. Since this activity is almost exclusively performed by women (mothers or nurses), this invention primarily helps them.

Dear Israel,
Thank you for the kind comment. There are three reasons I started this idea in this section. I started developing the invention when I was 16, now I am a 71% owner of the startup company, which is relatively rare for women. The device (as a general heat therapy medical device) solves several problems for women for which there is no other good solution: mastering spasms (lumbar warming), breast inflammation after breastfeeding (cooling of the breasts), etc. The fact that the project should provide a special solution to the problems of the COVID epidemic is a good opportunity to build a next-generation prototype by focusing on physical antipyretics. Physical antipyretics (wet clothes, cold bath) are 99% the responsibility of mothers and nurses, so this application helps them the most: instead of continous standby for many hours, the system monitors the patient’s temperature and automatically cools their body when needed. We can start clinical tests in this September at the Department of Dermatology, Semmelweis University and at Department of Rheumatology, Bács-Kiskun County Hospital.

Dear Calister,
Thank you for the good question. The identification of a given device is based on a simple serial Nr. The microcontroller encrypts the messages to the central server using an "installed" private key (authorisation + encryption). The central server gets the public key from the factory.
The database contains almost everything about the patient's health but not the identity: there are no stored names, phone Nrs, email addresses or IP Nrs. When a family shares one device they can use different user names for the family members like "Dad", "Mary" or "123" and all of them can be protected (against the other members of the family) by simple passwords.
In a hospital environment the registration of a new user (patient) can be identified by localisation (e.g. "I1R2B3": institution-1, room-2, bed-3) which - of course - not ideal for long-time tracking.
There are two separated servers: one for the communication with the devices (fast and simple) and one for the communication with the mobile (mobile-friendly HTML-based) application.
Two-step identification is impossible if we do not know phone Nr or email address but we will sell hardware-keys (USB-sticks containing security files) associated to the given device which can be installed under the web-browser.

Dear Okey,
We created a complex mathematical model that estimates the required investment, the expected revenue, and the optimal end-user price. The input includes the optional indication areas (dentistry, dermatology, gynecology, physiotherapy, rheumatology, traumatology, cardiology, laryngology, urology and neurology) taking into account the incidence of related diseases. Input also includes prime cost, various merchant commissions and taxes, and we take into account the size and monthly income of families in each country. Advertising and service costs are calculated based on whether wellness (B2C) or medical device (B2B) is the distribution strategy. Of course, distribution is not profitable in all countries, so we also define their scope (see attached map for B2B model). World market is too big for one manufacturing/distribution company, but current solvent demand will reach billions of dollars. (see atatched curve for B2B model) We will probably start with the development of the medical device, and if the device is widespread in healthcare institutions, it can also be made available by “civilians” (as in the case of digital blood pressure meters).
About the second question see my answers above.

Dear Muyunda,
Thank you for the kind comment. About the revenue in B2C model: we sell one (expensive and complex) central electronic part for a family. We can sell also any number of peripherals (cheap and simple) of any size, shape or design. Besides that we can use a very specific and very precisely targeted advertisement area in the controlling application: we know almost everyting about the patient (except the identity), so it can contain really useful recommendations (e.g. a rheumathology clinic for old people in Paris region). Finally the collected knowledge (the anonymous database) can help further improvement of the system, it can be a knowledge-base for other thermotherapy devices and and it can be the basis for scientific articles. The B2B model is more simple and not so price-sensitive. The safe and strong device can be sold to a hospital, which can use it locally or rent it to patients.
Risks: we must be set up strong security for the control (using hardware key-sticks for the software and which we sell with the device). We need to make sure that the patient completes the questionnaires properly: this is really in his or her best interest. If the device is not used as a universal therapeutic device, but for the treatment of fever, it is also much simpler, because the effect of the treatment can be measured immediately. To prevent tissue damage, the device is equipped with a low level protection that shuts off when the temperature goes below 25C or above 45C.
Gender question: Vigilating all night next to a feverish child’s bed is traditionally a female task. It is also up to the nurses to change the wet cloth on the patient for hours. Therefore, a device that automatically relieves the patient’s fever makes things easier for women.

Dear Rachel,
Thank you for the questions
Our current strategy is to make a medical device that is strong, secure, and of course expensive. If this is used successfully in hospitals and we can clarify which diseases it is effective in, we can start selling large quantities of cheaper devices for home use.
We would definitely sell in maternity stores: post-breastfeeding inflammation (cooling of the nipple), menstrual cramps (lumbar warming) and of course drug-free antipyretics (cooling of whole body).