Blackfrog Technologies Emvolio to provide portable active cooling for last-mile transport of vaccines

Portable medical-grade refrigerator as a vial and vaccine carrier enables geo-tagging and mapping delivery routes and assists the distributors to plan their vaccination drive to the pandemic impacted zones

The winner of Qualcomm Design in India Challenge 2019, Blackfrog Technologies, a healthcare technology company and consultancy firm, launches Emvólio, a next-generation portable active cooling (battery-powered) device, specifically designed to support the last-mile transport of vaccines.

As per a statement, this vaccine carrier can shield temperature-reliant vaccines and other biologicals up to 12 hours, while strictly maintaining temperature between 2°C and 8°C, thereby addressing the cold chain supply challenges pertaining to storage and transport of mRNA based vaccines which require cold storage to retain potency.

“We have designed this portable medical-grade refrigerator based on the WHO PQS E003 specifications (Pending Certifications) and standards with dual-layered stainless steel 304 that prevents corrosion and facilitates effortless sterilisation. To make sure that the apparatus delivers a better and faster temperature stabilisation we have patented with rapid-cooling technology, its advanced algorithms prevent freeze-thawing cycles and thus preserve the specimen for a longer period without hampering its efficacies. Emvólio assures Cold-life- up to 12 hours (up to 20 hours in moderate conditions), has the capacity of 2 litres and accommodates 30-50 vials of vaccine, is accountable for temperature maintenance, leak resistant, allows online monitoring and report generation to inform value chain decisions, can be repurposed for transport of blood, serums, antivenoms, and so forth,” stated Mayur U. Shetty, CEO, Blackfrog Technologies.

This contemporary refrigerator enables geo-tagging and mapping vaccine delivery routes, and assists the decision-makers and distributors to plan their vaccination drive to the pandemic impacted zones.

“We intend to positively abide by the objective of WHO which is to fortify immunisation services across the globe, making sure that every child in India and the neighbouring countries receive appropriate and efficacious vaccination,” said Ashlesh Bhat, CTO, Blackfrog Technologies.

Headquartered in Manipal-Karnataka, Blackfrog Technologies was founded by Mayur U. Shetty, Donson D Souza, and Ashlesh Bhat who shared the vision of forging technologies to resolve real-world and social challenges.

“Our team has so far developed eco-friendly larvicidal cakes that nipped the mosquito menace at the bud and worked on improving women’s security and design of small medical instruments. These out-of-the-box innovations have earned us impressive traction in the market, creating a niche for itself in the ecosystem. We have won several awards including Qualcomm Design in India Challenge (QDIC-2020), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Startupreneur awards 2020, AMADHAN- COVID-19: Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt.a of India- 2020, and others,” stated Donson D Souza, COO & Head of Operations, Blackfrog Technologies.

According to the release, besides vaccines, Blackfrog Technologies’ creation Emvólio supports the last-mile delivery of breast milk, blood serums and plasmas, medications, and other delicate specimens in adverse situations such as high temperature during transportation, disruption in power supply, compliance issues, and others.