Today we’re going to talk about a medical issue that up to 60 per cent of children will have by the age of six. 

And that is a condition called Otitis Media, also known as OME or ‘Glue Ear’. According to HealthHub SG, glue ear refers to the collection of fluid in the middle ear which frequently occurs after an upper respiratory tract infection. 

While the issue resolves by itself in most cases, the process can take up to three months. In fact, ‘Glue Ear’ is the number one cause of a child’s hearing loss, visits to doctors and surgeries.

But not everyone can get access to such surgery, as the procedure can be too expensive. The hospitals that perform them are also too far away from people located in remote areas. 

It is said that 120 million surgeries are needed a year while only 18 million get the surgery at the moment. 

And that is the gap that our guest NousQ aims to fill.  Founded in July 2021, NousQ is a medtech firm that focuses on the R&D, manufacturing and commercialisation of innovations that bravely and sustainably disrupts healthcare delivery to serve large unmet needs. 

Its flagship product, CLiKX, is the world’s first handheld, robotic, and automated surgical applicator that inserts a ear tube onto the eardrum to treat glue ears. 

The process takes just one second, without the need for an operating theatre. It also reduces costs and risks by four times. 

But how does NousQ intend to commercialise its CLiKX product to ensure affordability? What is needed to build up a distribution network that penetrates deep into remote areas with high prevalence of the Glue Ear condition? Also – how does the firm balance generating impact versus the revenue and profits?

On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to  Dr Lynne Lim, Founder and CEO, NousQ.