Domestic medical artificial intelligence (AI)companies are trying to secure references and expand sales by signing supplycontracts for self-developed AI solutions with domestic and foreign hospitals.
According to the industry on the 3rd, Lunit, VUNO,JLK, CorelineSoft, AITRIX, Oncosoft, and others have signed contracts withdomestic and foreign hospitals to supply their own AI solutions.
Last month, Lunit signed a contract with theNational Police Hospital to supply Lunit Insight CXR, an AI image analysissolution for chest X-rays. Lunit Insight CXR is a software (SW) that utilizesAI-based technology to assist medical staff by reading 10 chest diseases suchas lung nodules, lung hardening, and pneumothorax.
In the same month, Lunit also announced itsparticipation in the SEHA Virtual Hospital project, a key task of SaudiArabia's national strategic program, Vision 2030. The company completed theinstallation of Lunit Insight MMG, an AI image analysis solution for CXR andmammography, in the world's largest public healthcare virtual hospital underthe Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH) to participate in the project.
"Lunit took its first step into the MiddleEast market early last year by signing an export agreement with Roche MiddleEast for Lunit Insight MMG," said a company representative. "Sincethen, we have secured customers in major Middle Eastern countries such as AbuDhabi, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and are expanding our footprint in theregion."
"The Middle East healthcare market isrecognized as a high-margin market," he continued, "and there is agrowing demand for improved healthcare services in each country. In line withthis, we will continue to strive to expand our market share in theregion."
Vuno operates with its AI-based fundus imagereading assistant solution, VunoMed Fundus AI, and cardiac arrest predictionmedical device, VunoMed DeepCAS. According to the company, VunoMed Fundus AIhas been introduced to more than 70 hospitals (ophthalmology, internalmedicine, etc.) and is currently being utilized.
In addition, VunoMed DeepCAS has entered thenon-payment market and is currently utilized in more than 30 medicalinstitutions nationwide, including Dankook University Hospital and Kyung Hee UniversityHospital. "VunoMed DeepCAS is driving the company's continued salesgrowth," said a company official. "The product was previouslyconfirmed as a deferred evaluation for new medical technology assessment inAugust last year, making it the first in the industry to enter the non-paymentmarket."
Last month, JLK said that the number ofdomestic university hospitals and high-level general hospitals that haveadopted its stroke analysis solution exceeded 101, including the "Big5" hospitals. According to the company, the solution has been adopted byvarious medical departments, including neurology, neurosurgery, radiology,emergency medicine, and rehabilitation, in addition to neurology, which dealswith stroke. "This was achieved in just four months of salesactivities," the company said.
In February, CorelineSoft signed a contract withClinique du Parc ELSAN in France to supply its AI chest diagnosis solution,AVIEW LCS PLUS, to the hospital. The company has previously signed supplyagreements with hospitals under the St. Augustinus Group, a leading Germanhealthcare group, and AZ Delta in Belgium.
Last month, AITRICS signed a contract to supplyAITRICS-VC, an AI solution for early prediction of acute health deterioration,to three good hospitals under the Eunsung Medical Foundation. AITRICS VitalCareis a medical AI SW that monitors patient conditions in hospitals in real timeand predicts the risk of patient deterioration at an early stage.
A company official said, "We plan toactively strengthen sales and marketing to publicize the excellence of AITRICSVitalCare and our superior vital sign technology." "We can increasethe work efficiency of medical staff on the front lines of medical care byquickly promoting the adoption of domestic hospitals," he said.
Oncosoft is a company that develops AI-basedradiation cancer treatment SW and is headed by Dr. Jinsung Kim, a professor ofradiation oncology at Yonsei University College of Medicine. "In February2022, we received a Class 2 medical device license approval for our radiationtreatment planning SW 'OncoStudio' from the Korean Ministry of Food and DrugSafety," Kim said at the 1st Symposium of the Medical Radiation NewTechnology Research Association in September last year, "and we installedthe first OncoStudio at Yeungnam University Hospital." "Currently, 11hospitals have purchased, installed and contracted OncoStudio SW," saidOncosoft, adding that 33 hospitals are using the demo version.
AI solution supply contracts with hospitals areimportant..."Achieve milestones - secure revenue"
Both inside and outside the industry,healthcare AI companies see the benefits of signing AI solution supplycontracts with hospitals as a way to secure references and generate revenue."The positive view of medical AI companies is increasing due to the factthat these companies have signed supply contracts with hospitals," saidKim Jin-sung, CEO of Oncosoft. "In particular, contracts are gradually increasingand sales are being generated as AI solutions for predicting cardiac arrestowned by Vuno, AItricks, etc. become non-payment billing."
"Medical AI companies should considerglobal markets with more flexible regulations, such as the U.S., andproactively prepare technologies and systems in line with regulations in targetcountries," said Jung Yoon-taek, head of the Pharmaceutical IndustryStrategy Research Institute. "In terms of global marketing, they shouldconsider entering the market in stages by building local partnerships."
"It is one of the important milestones formedical AI companies to sign supply contracts with hospitals," said amedical device investment reviewer who requested anonymity. "It will begood if they have a lot of references in the hospital field and thesereferences are recognized at overseas conferences."
