Many medical artificial intelligence (AI) startups have announced that they received 'approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and FDA,' but what is important is what happens after the approval. The company must actively encourage usage and prove practicality and potential for dissemination.
Jung Joo-yeon, a senior reviewer at Kakao Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage startups, said this on the 15th during the KV brown bag event held at the Startup Alliance in Gangnam, Seoul, with the theme of 'digital diagnosis and treatment reaching the medical field.'
This event was organized to share the achievements digital healthcare corporations have made after receiving approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Kakao Ventures digital healthcare partner Kim Chi-won, reviewer Jung, and the digital therapeutics startups Emocog and Alfi were among the presenters.
Reviewer Jung emphasized, 'The first task in persuading users is setting up the site and encouraging usage,' adding, 'The product must already be installed in hospitals at the time of receiving approval, and it is crucial to educate nurses, doctors, and administration staff about how the workflow will change by ensuring compatibility with existing systems for smooth operation.
Reviewer Jung also stated, 'We need to connect insurance and fee systems.' This is essential for digital healthcare to become more usable in the market since it must receive support from medical insurance or fees. To achieve this, Jung noted, 'We need to secure real-world application data to persuade during fee negotiations.'
The first presenter was Noh Yoo-heon, CEO of Emocog, which developed the digital therapeutic device 'Cogthera' targeting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and obtained the first approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea. Cogthera provides customized training for the elderly through an app, slowing the progression of symptoms in MCI patients. Mild cognitive impairment refers to a state where cognitive function has declined, but the ability to perform daily activities is preserved, meaning it is not yet dementia.
CEO Noh shared the entry strategy, saying, 'We were able to sign purchase contracts with hospitals by creating new prescription codes and linking them with the electronic medical record (EMR) treatment system.' This allows a structure where, when a patient visits the hospital for mild cognitive impairment, the doctor can simply prescribe Cogthera and schedule a follow-up visit after 12 weeks to evaluate effectiveness and re-prescribe.
The second presenter, Alfi, developed an AI solution called 'ECG Buddy' that uses a 12-lead electrocardiogram to diagnose heart diseases and emergency situations early and has successfully commercialized it. ECG Buddy provides electrocardiogram interpretation services that help detect severe heart disease such as myocardial infarction or arrhythmia occurring in emergency rooms and on-site paramedics.
CEO Kim noted, 'Securing initial customers to improve brand awareness was essential for entering the market.' He stated that a key example was a post on social media comparing the effectiveness of using a simple electrocardiogram versus ECG Buddy for a patient who visited the emergency room with chest pain. Recently, the number of hospitals utilizing Alfi increased from one to 45.
After securing customers, the service provision process is also important. He said, 'Initially, we considered integrating it into hospital systems, but it was challenging to adopt a service without established trust.' He added that they approached this by first launching the service through a smartphone app and then developing a Windows program.
The two startups plan to expand their markets overseas. Emocog is set to complete clinical trials for insurance registration in the German market and target the European market. Alfi also plans to officially enter global markets such as Europe, the United States, Taiwan, and Indonesia based on the experience accumulated in the domestic healthcare sector.
Kim Chi-won, deputy representative of Kakao Ventures, stated, 'Even as the medical foundation model develops, the medical field remains an area where specialized corporations can demonstrate strengths due to specialized data and a challenging approval process,' adding, 'Teams like Emocog and Alfi, which have proven reliability and scalability based on clinical data, are expected to set the standards for the future medical AI ecosystem.'