Waiting-room family history check that flags who needs hereditary cancer testing
TL;DR Pedigreen is a guided family-history questionnaire that breast and gynaecology patients fill in on their phone while they wait. It draws a three-generation family tree, flags patients who meet published criteria for hereditary cancer testing, and books a tele-genetic counselling slot. Clinics and hospitals pay a subscription.
Hereditary cancer is common enough in India to matter. In a 2025 study of 192 Indian women with triple-negative breast cancer, 28.6% carried a harmful inherited mutation, mostly in BRCA1[1]. Finding these patients changes treatment and lets sisters and daughters get tested early.
Yet a 2025 review of genetics clinics, using India as its case, found a shortage of trained staff, poor awareness and cost blocking access[2]. In a busy outpatient clinic nobody has time to draw a family tree, so the question of who should be tested often never gets asked at all.
What it does, in regulatory terms - clinical decision support for the treating doctor. Pedigreen applies published testing criteria to the family history a patient reports and shows the doctor a flag with its reasons. It does not diagnose, estimate a personal cancer risk for the patient, or order tests. A flagging tool may count as software under the Medical Devices Rules 2017[3], so get a classification opinion before launch.
Patients answer plain-language questions in English or a regional language - which relatives had which cancers, and at what age. The doctor sees a tree and a short summary. Flagged patients are offered a tele-counselling session with a certified genetic counsellor before any test.
The seed imagined relatives jointly building a shared family health database, and I've reframed it. Each relative is a separate data principal under the DPDP Act and must consent individually[4], which makes a pooled family record hard to run. Pedigreen starts with one patient's own account, and relatives join later, by their own choice, if testing is positive.
The patient uses it free. Breast surgery, oncology and gynaecology departments pay a monthly subscription per clinic, an assumption to test since no comparable Indian price exists. Testing labs are a second revenue line, but a referral fee would conflict with neutrality. So charge them only for the counselling service, never per test ordered.
Genetic testing has become a consumer product in India. One Indian genomics company sells kits from ₹9,999 and bundles a session with a certified genetic counsellor[5]. The 2025 review names tele-genetic counselling and integration into existing oncology services as the most promising ways to reach patients[2]. The DPDP Act now sets the consent rules[4], so a careful product can say exactly how it handles family data.
There's no public figure for the number of Indian patients who meet hereditary cancer testing criteria, or for spending on genetic counselling. The clinical signal is strong though - 28.6% of one Indian triple-negative cohort carried a harmful variant[1]. Count flagged patients in your own pilot clinics before you estimate a market.
CanRisk, from the University of Cambridge, calculates breast and ovarian cancer risk from family history for clinicians, but it assumes a trained user and a long consult[6]. Indian consumer genomics companies sell tests with counselling attached[5]. No Indian product I could find sits in the clinic waiting room and turns a patient's own account into a testing flag.
| Difficulty | Moderate (38/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹40–75 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The questionnaire logic itself is simple. The hard part is writing questions that patients answer accurately in several languages, getting oncologists to act on the flags and lining up enough counsellors to take the referrals within days rather than months.
Probably yes. A flagging tool for doctors may count as a medical device, so settle that first.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI estimate a person's cancer risk or decide who gets tested. The flag applies published criteria for the doctor to act on, and anything beyond that needs clinical validation and device approval.
Want to work out the AI layer for Pedigreen? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this for a founder with a genetic counselling or oncology background who can win the trust of breast surgeons. If you're aiming for consumer scale fast then it's a poor fit. Prove one thing first - that at three clinics, more than half of flagged patients complete counselling within a month.
Plan for roughly ₹40–75 L, mostly the questionnaire and software, a regulatory opinion and a counsellor network to take referrals.
Likely yes. A flagging tool may be a medical device under the Medical Devices Rules 2017, so get a CDSCO classification opinion, and comply with the DPDP Act.
Yes, published testing criteria are used widely. Check whether your regulator treats decision support as a medical device before you launch.
The free Pedigreen validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the device-rules and family-data consent checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for clinicians and patients, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Pedigreen or something close to it? The hard part is getting busy clinicians to act on a flag every time. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.