About Us
mission, vision & progress
Established in 2018, LeanMed is a LLC with a commitment to innovation and serving low resource communities.
Adopting a social mission at its core, we aim to bring essential treatments to low-resource environments through innovative technologies.
The inspiration came from James Newton [advisory board member] as a first year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh.
With an interest in global health innovation, numerous conversations with global health experts led him to recognize the shared complaint of inadequate supplemental O2 availability in low resource areas.
Research into the topic further validated the need for O2, while creating a solution seemed achievable.
our mission
a dire, unmet need for medical oxygen in developing nations
Our beginnings with pediatric pneumonia provide just one shocking set of statistics:
- 800,000 children die every year from pneumonia
- It is the #1 killer of children every year
- 99% of those deaths occur in the developing world
- 80% of those death occur outside a hospital
There are 50,000 rural health facilities in the world that lack dependable grid electricity and yet have enough sunshine to make solar energy economically viable. These health facilities serve 1.2 billion people – adults, mothers, children, infants.
Today there exists in the developed world the medical technology and know-how to save lives and improve the quality of life for its citizens. Unfortunately this capability is largely absent from health facilities in the developing world.
our vision
our vision is to provide life-saving medical oxygen to developing nations
Our vision is to bring world standard healthcare to these 1.2 billion people by providing the O2 Cube to small and mid-sized hospitals in the LMIC’s.
It is LeanMed’s mission that through innovation and the support of socially focused medical product organizations in the developed world we can bring this capability to the RHCs located in the developing world.
LeanMed is taking medical products that are used in U.S./EU homes, over-the-counter devices or discontinued product lines to innovate and re-purpose them for life in the RHC’s.
The three secular trends of solar energy, recycling/refurbishing and wireless communications provides us the levers to innovate and deliver life-saving solutions in an economically viable manner.
Solar powered on-site medical oxygen production and storage for healthcare facilities in LMIC’s
The O2 Cube is the first example of us executing on our mission. A solar powered micro oxygen production that has just been recognized by the WHO as a 2021 Innovative Health Technology for Low Resource Settings it uses solar energy to power oxygen concentrators and compressors that bring medical oxygen to the RHC’s for earlier patient intervention.
The O2 Cube is a solar powered, micro-psa medical oxygen production and storage system that is a complete oxygen solution for the rural health facilities of the world. In addition, the small oxygen cylinders filled by the O2 Cube provide oxygen to the patient while in transit to the referring hospital thus saving countless lives.
the barriers
The 7 Barriers to Oxygen Access for the “Last Mile”
- GRID ELECTRICITY
Relianble, affordable electricity is scarce in many LMIC (low-and middle income countries). This increases costs, reduces production efficiency, and can damage equipment like PSA plants & stationary oxygen concentrators that rely on stable power. - ROADWAY INFRASTRUCTURE
Transporting large cylinders for refills is challenging in areas with underdeveloped roads. Environmental impacts, high costs, & delays due to weather exacerbate the issue. - INVESTMENT COSTS
PSA plants require significant investment, often exceeding $500,000 for procurement & installation. While stationary oxygen concentrators are less costly individually, they have no oxygen storage capacity. - OPERATING COSTS
High energy demands, and frequent maintenance make operating PSA plants expensive & challenging. - SUPPLY-DEMAND MISMATCH
Many PSA plants are underutilized due to difficulties in aligning supply with fluctuating demand. - TIME TO PRODUCTION
PSA plants are complex and custom-designed, requiring 6-9 mmonths to deploy- time that many communities don’t have. - LACK OF DATA
PSA plants and stationary oxygen concentrators often lack systmes for operational data collection, preventing efficient maintenance and optimization.
our progress
2018
Winner of the 2018 Blast Furnace Competition: Blast Furnace is the University of Pittsburgh’s student accelerator that provides emerging entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills they need to form a corporation and grow and develop their business.
O2 Cube Functional Prototype: With the Blast Furnace funding, we 1) procured the materials to build a functional O2 Cube prototype 2) legally established the company 3) retained an industrial design firm for concept development and 4) retained a marketing firm to develop our brand image.
2019
Idea Foundry Funding: Idea Foundry invests in and works alongside entrepreneurs to transform innovative business ideas into viable commercial activities, facilitates business growth, and leverages global programs to attract talent, capital, and business to the Pittsburgh area.
Malawi Pulse Oximetry Project: With the Idea Foundry funding, we launched a project to collect pulse oximetry data from the Balaka District in Malawi while building relations with their healthcare system.
Learn more about our research project in Balaka, Malawi
2020
Finalist in the Duquesne University New Venture Competition (DNVC): Finished 3rd place out of 70 applicants. The DNVC is a platform for entrepreneurship education to help them develop and execute their business models.
Duquesne Student Project: A team of biomedical students at Duquesne built an improved O2 Cube prototype as an independent study project that provided them hands on design, build, and test experience.
UnitaidExplore: Finalist in the UnitaidExplore Competition, part of the World Health Organization’s call to discover “Innovations to Increase Access to Oxygen Therapy.” This initiative is focused on pediatric pneumonia, recognizing it as a deadly killer of children.
2021
LifeX Labs Acceptance: LeanMed is accepted into the prestigious life sciences incubator program. LifeX Labs is a capital growth company that brings in early-stage life sciences companies and provides functional support through mentorship and domain expertise.
World Health Organization O2 Cube Recognition: LeanMed, has secured recognition of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the O₂ Cube, in the WHO 2021 Compendium of Innovative Health Technologies for Low-Resource Settings.
Philips Respironics UltraFill Licensing Agreement: LeanMed LLC announces a global licensing agreement with Philips, a global health technology leader, that will enable LeanMed to leverage the Philips UltraFill oxygen filling station technology in all O2 Cubes.
2022
PinCh Competition Finalist: Finalist in the University of Pittsburgh’s PinCh Competition and was awarded $50,000 to engineer the 10LPM O2 Cube as well as its telemetry features.
O2 Cube Fast Track: Supported by donations from Goal Zero and Philips, we have launched our first Fast Track program to save lives at a hospital facility in Nigeria. The system is up and running in the hospital under the operation of HealthPort.
WeFunder Crowdfunding Campaign: Through WeFunder, we successfully raised $85,000. These funds directly feed into the development of our first commercial O2 Cube unit. https://wefunder.com/leanmed
2023
Design of First Commercial O2 Cube
2024
Commercial Shipments of the O2 Cube to Nigeria and Uganda
2025
Success Stories
HealthPort- Nigeria: LeanMed partner HealthPort is an Oxygen-as-a-Service provider that contracted with Harvey Road in 2023 to become their oxygen supplier. HealthPort also contracted to train their clinical staff on the proper diagnosis and prescribing of medical oxygen. In one year, HealthPort has provided over 3,000,000 litres of medical oxygen to Harvey Road treating over 600 patients.
AHFIA- Uganda: AFHIA Uganda created a hub & spoke model by constructing a single refilling station. They serve both medical and industrial customers in Western Uganda using a van. They are filling 80 cylinders per month all using solar power.
Learn more about the organizations who share in our mission for oxygen and have contributed to our growth over the years