D-Rev

The problem: lack of access to high-quality, affordable medical devices

When hospitals and clinicians serving the world’s poor can’t treat their patients with the right equipment, the result is enduring illness, suffering, mortality, and an ever-spiraling trap of poverty.

Take jaundice, one of D-Rev’s focus areas. Jaundice is caused by an excess of bilirubin in the blood. In high-income countries, newborn jaundice is easily treated with phototherapy and rarely leads to kernicterus — a type of preventable brain damage which can occur if severe jaundice goes untreated.

In low- and middle-income countries, however, kernicterus ranks as the seventh leading cause of mortality in newborns. [1] According to an assessment by Stanford University and D-Rev, over, six million babies with severe jaundice are not receiving adequate treatment. [2] This is because effective phototherapy machines are not nearly as accessible, partly due to costs upwards of US$3,000.

The solution: designing and delivering cost-effective medical products and technologies to health providers and patients

This requires a real, on-the-ground assessment of the needs of emerging markets to support health, productivity, and independence — and then taking action.

D-Rev’s flagship product, Brilliance, is a high-quality, low-cost phototherapy lamp that uses LED bulbs which do not need replacing. [3] D-Rev first learned about the need for affordable, quality phototherapy from an Indian doctor who saw babies suffering brain damage and dying from jaundice. It was a problem no one was tackling in a meaningful way. D-Rev went on to discover many pediatricians and neonatologists ranked this in their top 3-5 needs, and worked to close the gap.

In 2016, Brilliance was named the “best health innovation to benefit humanity” by the Tech Museum as part of their 15-year retrospective of the social sector.

How D-Rev works

D-Rev is a unique portfolio non-profit medical device company. Their work covers the full medical device development process, from identification of need through design and scaled delivery, then measurement of impact and effectiveness, and continual improvement. Donations to D-Rev fund their research and development process.

This approach allows D-Rev to scale via the market, rather than rely exclusively on donations to drive their work. D-Rev currently has studies planned or underway in Rwanda, Nepal, and in several states in India.

D-Rev’s accountability and sustainability

D-Rev values accountability and transparency. They requested a rigorous audit by ImpactMatters, receiving high marks in Evidence and Monitoring, and excellent marks in Learning. Their website includes their algorithms for estimating impact as well as regularly-updated impact dashboards. [5] [6]

In line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, D-Rev plans to expand its portfolio to a total of 10 products in maternal, newborn, and child health by 2030. While D-Rev’s products are sold for a profit (which is then reinvested in research and development), they prioritize impact and sustainable scaling over revenue. De-Rev aims to exit projects once they believe scaling is sustainably on-track to close the global health inequity, which they generally expect to be 5–7 years after product launch. ReMotion, a prosthetic limb for above-the-knee amputees, is one of those success stories.

Recognition for D-Rev

D-Rev’s partners include Stanford University School of Medicine, USAID, UKaid, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2016, they was named laureate in the Health category of The Tech Awards, where the Silicon Valley-based Tech Museum recognized D-Rev as the “best of the best” for the benefit its technology brings to Humanity. [7] They were also named one of Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2013 and recognized as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. [8]