Health Care Heroes 2021: Idicula Mathew with Hera Health Solutions

Idicula Mathew cofounder and CEO of Hera Health Solutions

Grant Miller for MBJ

By Susan Ellis - Projects Editor

July 15, 2021, 08:23pm CDT Updated 09/16/2021 1:16 pm

If your heart is strong, and you’re fully mobile, and you have all your teeth, you can thank your youth or your good genetics. Or, more likely, you can thank your doctor.

A good doctor can see you through everything from minor aches and pains and major medical issues to mental struggles and chronic physical issues. A good doctor will nag you — and absolutely besiege you with calls, texts, and emails — about your annual checkups and age-related diagnostic tests.

And, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes elements to the medical field: organizations that advocate for a healthier community, administrations that run our local teaching hospitals and schools.

During the past year and a half — as if you need reminding — the world’s been in a health crisis. Last year, Memphis Business Journal’s Health Care Heroes focused on those doctors, scientists, health professionals, and administrators who steered us through COVID-19.

This year, we broaden the scope to include all of those who take care of our minds and bodies. We will be rolling out one profile a week through the end of the year.

Here’s to your health. And theirs.

Idicula Mathew

Cofounder and CEO, Hera Health Solutions

What happens when the scientific collides with the entrepreneurial? You wind up with innovative products such as Eucontra, a biodegradable contraceptive implant — the flagship product of Hera Health Solutions.

The Memphis-based firm is led by Idicula Mathew. Its implants, which preclude the messy and sometimes complicated removal process, can be applied to other treatments, such as for breast cancer, mental health issues, and hormonal therapies.

“Hera’s platform drug delivery technology aims to revolutionize sustainable long-acting drug delivery,” wrote Mathew’s Health Care Heroes nominator. “Now under Idicula’s leadership, Hera Health Solutions has raised over $1.25 million of capital to commercialize its medical device breakthrough technology, received backing from prominent nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, and is pushing their technology into sustainable markets.”

Simply put, the nominator said, “Idicula is a scientist turned entrepreneur who is surely making waves in the field of sustainable health care.”

MBJ: Describe what Hera Health’s innovation does?

Idicula Mathew: Hera Health Solutions is a pharmaceutical device company that specializes in the research, development, and commercialization of long-acting treatments through our proprietary bioerodible drug delivery implants.

Why was Hera formed, and how has your innovation developed? Hera Health is developing the world’s first biodegradable drug delivery implant platform. Billions of dollars are invested into the discovery of new therapeutics each year. However, the targeted-delivery and controlled-release mechanism of many medications are often inapt, ineffective, or user-unfriendly.

This problem is exacerbated with long-acting medications — therapeutics that need to be delivered continuously for extended dosage cycles to be most effective. A few examples include contraception, opioid addiction treatment, hormonal therapies, breast cancer treatment, mental health medications, and even some vaccinations. Unfortunately, current implants on the market require expensive and complicated removal procedures. Those procedures often leave behind heavy bruising, scarring, and even lost foreign objects in the body.

Furthermore, in areas of the world with limited access to health care; societal pushback against pill-taking regimens; and overall health care shortages as a result of the pandemic, pharmaceutical drug delivery innovation is a highly anticipated global marketplace ripe for disruption.

Hera’s team of biomedical engineers and scientists is developing the solution. A first-of-its-kind, bioerodible subcutaneous drug delivery implant — an implant that erodes in the body while emitting medications for extended periods of time.

How do you hope Hera can change the medical profession and the people it serves? As a result of the pandemic, the world directly witnessed how access to health care became a global crisis. With more than 1.7 billion people in the world who need to take a prescription medication daily, there are obvious issues surrounding efficiency, effectiveness, and user-compliance. As a health care startup working on commercializing innovative drug delivery technology, we are excited to be working to push to the limit the number of necessary “touch points” between the clinician and the end users of medications. We also actively participate in local partnerships and health centers, pushing education for improved access to long-acting treatments and modern contraceptives.

What has been the most memorable moment thus far for your innovation? Earlier this year, our flagship product under development, Eucontra, was chosen as a global emerging leader in the innovative contraceptive space. The judging team consisted of thought and impact leaders from the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). At the virtual conference, I had the opportunity to connect with numerous leaders in the space.

Although this in itself was a great honor, one conversation in particular was specifically memorable. I connected with a LARC [long-acting reversible contraception] volunteer who had spent decades leading initiatives that delivered, distributed, and administered modern contraceptives to developing nations. Her words expressing true excitement about our product in development was truly humbling. She shared with me the issues and concerns she had faced in numerous areas around the world, and how our technology could offer a simple and effective solution. Moments like this are what makes me love what I do. I greatly enjoy having the opportunity to work toward a solution that can make an impact.