2020 / Vol. 03 / Issue-01
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
“
Being in the healthcare industry, it is the patient who is both our primary customer and concern
“
Dr. A. Velumani Founder
Need of an Integrated Healthcare System in Asia employment sector into one scheme. Not only it covers the entire nation or territory in the said package, but also enhances equity in the overall healthcare system. Still, if countries can successfully implement universal social health insurance depends on a number of preconditions. Particularly, the level of economic development of the country defines the efforts of implementation of the same.
DARSHAN PARMAR
A
sia is a diverse continent. In some of the countries in east and Southeast Asian subregions, the stages of demographics, economic development, and epidemiological profiles are quite heterogeneous. It is obser ved that there is a convergence towards universal social health insurance as the primary health system architecture in Asia. An identical benefit package is the attraction of universal social health insurance which amalgamates government subsidie s and contributions from employee s, employers, and external individuals from the formal
A co u nt r y ’s st a g e of e co n o m i c d eve l o p m e nt determines its availability of resources for healthcare system financing no matter where it finances from. The source of financing can be through general government tax revenue or contributions from households, employees, and employers, etc. To reach wide coverage when a nation particularly has a large informal employment sector, the traditional forms of social health insurance are not feasible options. This is mainly because they depend on contributions from employees and their respective employers. The traditional methods of social health insurance procure premiums by direct payroll deductions and without formal wage records, collections from the informal sector by default renders a voluntary process even if they are mandated by design. What could potentially threaten the financial sustainability of the program are the people who voluntarily enroll and have considerable health issues, leading to problems of adverse selection. That is the reason there is a necessity for integrated healthcare systems in Asia. Asia requires efficient health systems with integrated care as there is a rapidly aging population along with the rising burden of patients with chronic conditions. Even though there have been efforts to integrate primary
Editor’s Note care and critical care in Asia, but the overall care delivery system remains quite fragmented. The primary health care system needs robust and effective initiatives that are targeted towards specific diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dementia, and depression. These are some of the common chronic conditions that require immediate attention. All of this can be achieved through a healthcare model of collaborative care provision, which is an integrated care approach. The key stakeholders of this approach need to have a thorough understanding of the high-risk patient demographics and suitable resources to confront the imminent population dynamics, especially the shifts due to extremely rapid rate of increase in the aging population of Asia. This is to ensure the successful implementation of integrated care policy. Through this month’s edition, ‘A sia’s 10 Most Pioneering Healthcare Solution Providers 2020’, Insights Care wishes to highlight some of the companies that are working with a differentiated approach aligned with the integrated care policy in Asia. On the cover of the magazine, we have Thyrocare, an organization with a vision to achieve quality health for a better world. In the cluster of stories, the magazine includes a group of software developers working at Origin Integrated Studios who are working to make a positive difference while developing innovative and creative healthcare application software solutions. Other than this, there is an organization that maintains a certain ubiquity of its technology throughout the healthcare domain and is a leading biotechnology company. Bioneer is on a mission
to become a prominent solution provider in healthcare technologies. Cover2Protect is a start-up platform and convergence of digital world, modern medicine, and Ayurveda. It is on a mission to transform the future of healthcare delivery across the world. Another company that is making a difference in the healthcare domain is Lifetrack Medical Systems. It is a company that is making healthcare software, more human. The final story in the list is of V2U Healthcare. The company has been spreading its wings to provide innovative Physiotherapy Rehabilitation and Electrotherapy equipment. There are also some honorable mentions in this edition, companies that are playing an integral role in facilitating distinguished products/services related to healthcare in their own way. Names such as AUM Biosciences, Adagene, AFT Pharmaceuticals, and Huami Technology are certainly proving to be remarkable contributors in the Asian healthcare domain. In an exclusive interview with Insights Care, AdAlta is informing us, how it is using its powerful technology platform to generate a promising new class of single domain antibody protein therapeutics which have the potential to treat some of today’s most challenging medical conditions. Also, this issue of the magazine also portrays Charles Bark’s CXO standpoint titled ‘Healthcare: The Future of Ageing’. He is the Founder and CEO of HiNounou. Insights Care’s team urges its readers to sit back, relax and read away all the incredible stories that these amazing healthcare solution providers are trying to convey.
Parmar n a h s r a D
POWERING THE HEALTHCARE ENGINE WITH AUTOMATION
Cover Story
08
Interview
CXO
Article Editor’s Insights Cloud Technology Transforming Healthcare Sector
22 AdAlta
Expert Valuation
16
34
A New Paradigm of Therapeutic Antibodies
Healthcare: the Future of Ageing
C O N T E N T S
MARCH 2020
Bioneer A Compassionate and Trusted RNAi Therapy Provider
20
Cover2Protect
26
Lifetrack Medical Systems
30
Origin Integrated Studios
38
A Compassionate and Trusted Telehealth Provider
Making Healthcare Software Human
Offering Conclusive Technical Solution For Healthcare
V2U Healthcare Setting Benchmarks in Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Care
42
Editor-in-Chief Senior Editor Managing Editor Publishing Control Team Quality Assurance Team Visualiser Art & Design Head Art & Design Assistant Co-designer Art & Picture Editor Business Development Manager Marketing Manager Business Development Executive Sales Executives Technical Head Assistant Technical Head Technical Consultants Digital Marketing Manager Assistant Digital Marketing Manager SME-SMO Executives Research Analyst Circulation Manager
Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Rajkunwar Bhosale Shruti Jambhale Abhishaj, Sneha, Darshan David King Amol Kamble Poonam Mahajan Paul Belin Asha Bange Peter Collins Marry D’Souza Mark Williams Kelli, Sarah, Bill, John, Amy Jacob Smile Pratiksha Patil David, Robert Alina Sege Prashant Chevale Uma, Gemson Eric Smith Tanaji
sales@insightscare.com
March, 2020 Corporate Offices: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - 302-319-9947 Email: info@insightscare.com For Subscription: www.insightscare.com
Follow us on :
Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Office No. 22 & 510, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: 7410033802, 74100058552 Email: info@insightscare.com For Subscription: www.insightscare.com
www.facebook.com/InsightsCare/
https://twitter.com/Insightscare
Copyright © 2020 Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd., All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights success. Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Insights Care is powered by Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Dr. A. Velumani Founder
POWERING THE HEALTHCARE ENGINE WITH AUTOMATION
“
THYROCARE HAS MADE RIGHT USE OF THE ADVANCED SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY, CAPABLE OF WORKING ON ITS UNBELIEVABLE VOLUMES AND YET DELIVER QUALITY AND PRECISION TO ITS CUSTOMERS
“
Equally significant is their ability to reduce the opportunity for medical errors and increase patient safety. Laboratories produce test results that are widely used in clinical and public health settings. They affect the treatment decisions in as many as 70% of medical cases. The patients health outcomes depend on the accuracy of testing and reporting. Thus, delayed or incorrect laboratory results caused by poor sample quality or other pre-analytical factors potentially obstruct or lead to erroneous diagnosis and treatment. This may impact patient outcomes, severely compromising patient safety leading to unintended economic burden on the laboratory or the hospital. In order to achieve the highest level of accuracy and reliability, it is essential to replace the existing systems and incorporate such systems that can efficiently perform all processes and procedures in the laboratory. Studies say that such errors or delays contribute to millions of injuries and deaths every year. Having intensified efforts to combat this serious problem, many laboratory professionals and hospital administrators have come into force at implementing automation systems in their clinical laboratories. As automation continues to grow in popularity, these laboratories are witnessing the proof of its success and tapping into dramatic improvements in error reduction and testing efficiency. Witnessing the benefits of automation, laboratories have no doubt grown more enthusiastic about improving processes through automation. This has demonstrated the fact that laboratories play a cardinal role in safeguarding the wellbeing of patients. Notably, automation is a tool that enables the professionals to perform this role much more efficiently and effectively.
“
M
edical diagnostics is at the centre of healthcare delivery. In recent years, much has been said about process improvement and automation and how can these approaches help medical diagnostic centres improve efficiency and cut costs.
“
QUALITY IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT; IT IS ALWAYS THE RESULT OF HIGH INTENTION, SINCERE EFFORT, INTELLIGENT DIRECTION AND SKILLFUL EXECUTION
4,00,000 tests related to various disorders per day. Thyrocare is India’s first and most advanced fully automated laboratory having a strong presence in more than 2000 cities and towns across India and the globe. It primarily focuses on providing quality services at affordable costs to laboratories and hospitals in India and other countries. Thyrocare plays an active role in supporting small laboratories that lack costly analysers to fulfil their diagnostic needs using a back end high technology partner. It provides cutting edge solutions to chronic illnesses offering affordable and reliable solution in identifying, monitoring and managing the disorder. The Journey of a Prolific Entrepreneur Dr. A. Velumani, the Founder of Thyrocare, was born in Appanaicken Patti Pudur, in 1959, a small village in the outskirts of Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. Regardless of being born to an underprivileged family, his mother managed to admit Dr. A. Velumani and his siblings to pursue graduation from the Chennai University. Dr. A. Velumani, after completing graduation, along with his siblings, managed to accomplish post graduation from the Mumbai university by barely earning money to survive.
An organization achieving the vision of quality health for a better world which is at the forefront of innovation in the healthcare industry is, Thyrocare Technologies Limited. It is proud to be a part of the technology and automation shift that is transforming the medical and healthcare landscape.
The dearth of job opportunities available in Coimbatore required him to move to Mumbai in 1982. Putting immense efforts, he finally got recruited to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. To his surprise, getting admitted to BARC was as if a dream come true. Apparently, at the centre, he completed PhD in Thyroid Biochemistry during his stint of 14 years at BARC as a Research Scientist.
At the Forefront of Automation The Mumbai headquartered organization Thyrocare, is a diagnostic laboratory that is focused on clinical chemistry. It operates across ten countries and processes nearly
By the time he was 37 he had accomplished all the desires anyone would dream for- Job, Salary, Caring wife, Children, Comfort, and Luxury. But still, something kept him bothering. It made him feel that this is a high time in
“
HYROCARE’S CLEAR FOCUS IS TO FACILITATE AND STANDARDIZE QUALITY AND COST OF LABORATORY SERVICES ACROSS THE WORLD
“
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
his life where he can take risks and do something impactful. By taking some life changing decisions, he and his wife gathered huge amount of funds and established Thyrocare. The journey of good and bad experiences had curated and transformed his life which made him what he is today, a Prolific Entrepreneur. Utilizing his 15 years knowledge of Thyroid Biochemistry and its testing methods, technology and reagent manufacturing Dr. A. Velumani disrupted the traditional business models in clinical chemistry. And now Thyrocare, his venture, has reached a 3000 crore market capitalisation in a period of 20 years. Thyrocare has so far employed 8000 graduates and is directly or indirectly providing livelihood to over 10,000 families. A Historic Feat in Clinical Chemistry Initially, Thyrocare had started with a focus on Thyroid made Thyroid volumes. It helped Thyrocare to build a foundation for HR management, IT, and Logistics that would handle operations in multiple cities. In the following years, Dr. A. Velumani along with his team of professionals from the medical fraternity, incorporated clinical operations for Infertility, Pregnancy, Growth and Metabolism, Diabetes, and Oncology. Currently, Thyrocare works on conducting 300 different tests through its automated laboratory. It’s focus is on metabolism. Considering the use of technology, during the initial phases, it used only a single technology ‘Radioimmunoassay’. Its focus on speed and accuracy made Thyrocare the first Indian laboratory to boast of an IT enabled and fully automated diagnostic laboratory before it actually emerged in practice all over the country. Today, Thyrocare is the single most fully automated laboratory in India with an investment of around 100 crores on analysers and automation. Serving best to the community it has made a big difference to the country through its clinical research and by introducing advanced technologies to work efficiently. Moreover, it is the first company in India to introduce barcoding system at collection point. It provides collection kits, which contains barcoded tubes and consumables and ensures that error free samples are collected. It is equipped with meticulously created and monitored systems, well-chosen and trained manpower, best global technologies for testing and an uncompromised approach to
“
THE UNIQUENESS OF THYROCARE IS ITS EFFORT TO INNOVATE AND REMAIN AT PAR OF THE GLOBAL STANDARDS FOR BEST OF QUALITY SERVICE DELIVERY, AT THE MOST COSTEFFECTIVE PRICES
“
ASIA'S
instrumentation. Its uniqueness is looked upon as a yardstick for quality by stakeholders in the diagnostic industry. Its effort to innovate and remain at par of the global standards for best of quality service delivery, at the most cost-effective prices sets it apart. Smart Solutions Thyrocare was a 100% manual laboratory conducting all the tests using trained manpower from the year 1995 to 2000. It scaled its operations and by 2010 it carried out 90% automated procedures. It has integrated Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) to improve productivity of machines and workforce. The installation of ‘Aptio system’ by Siemens has made the entire operations seamless and totally automated. It has created an in-house IT solution, called ‘Charbi’ previously known as ‘Back Bone’ which today seamlessly connects employees, departments, franchisees, DSAs and vendors as well. Its robust IT infrastructure connects its network of clients spread across ten countries to its Cloud Server. The cloud server is an integration of Laboratory, Technology, Business, Logistics, CRM and administration. Thyrocare has also partnered with ‘Better-Life’ for customer convenience. Better-Life, is a mobile app development company specialising in the healthcare sector. It works to bring mobility into the diagnostic services space by giving customers the convenience to book tests, view reports and check health notifications on their mobile devices. Comprehending the Future Thyrocare aims to focus more on the same domain i.e. clinical chemistry, which has huge scope globally. It envisions to add more technologies in clinical chemistry, and add more tests in it for menu expansion. It looks forward to introduce more packages for preventive care, more franchisees and reach the far flung and smaller towns in India.
SUBSCRIBE
TODAY Never Miss An Issue
Stay in touch. Subscribe to Insightscare Get Insightssuccess Magazine in print, & digital on www.insightscare.com
www.insightscare.com
Check should be drawn in favor of : INSIGHTS SUCCESS MEDIA TECH LLC
Dr Tim Oldham CEO
16 | March 2020 |
www.insightscare.com
AdAlta E
veryday we come into contact with several form of bacteria, viruses and other disease causing organisms. However we don’t fall ill every other day which is due to our immune system. An army of cells is always present in our body to fight against the invading particles. And, antibodies are the crucial bodies of the immune system helping us fight off nasty invading particles. AdAlta Limited (ASX:1AD), a highly innovative drug discovery and development organization, is using its powerful technology platform to generate a promising new class of protein therapeutics known as i-bodies, that have the potential to treat some of today’s most challenging medical conditions. AdAlta is a late pre-clinical stage, ASX-listed Biotechnology company. AdAlta was founded 12 years ago to develop and commercialize intellectual property developed by an academic collaboration known as the Cooperative Research Centre for Diagnostics (CRC’s have been a very productive Australian initiative for driving translational research to commercial outcomes). This intellectual property derived from the discovery that the immune system of sharks includes a novel class of singledomain antibodies with unique properties that enable them to bind and access receptors that traditional antibodies cannot. The additional discovery of human protein scaffolds with very similar structures enabled AdAlta to create libraries containing billions of proprietary i-bodies: human single-domain
A New Paradigm of Therapeutic Antibodies
antibodies that incorporate the advantages inspired by shark immune systems. The unique advantage of i-bodies is their ability to bind complex receptors very specifically and with very specific and selective pharmacology, something that small molecule drugs and antibodies are often unable to do. This enables AdAlta to “drug difficult to drug targets”. A particular field of interest is the very large family of receptors called G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) that are targets for almost half the approved drugs today but which have very complex pharmacology, meaning that even if they can be successfully drugged, this is often at the expense of serious side effects. AdAlta spent its early years proving the unique properties of its i-bodies, building libraries of i-body variants and developing methods of screening the libraries against therapeutically interesting targets. One of these, i-body against a GPCR called CXCR4, is being developed as an anti-fibrotic drug and the company has spent significant efforts generating proof about the concept of preclinical data in several fibrotic disease models. In 2016, AdAlta listed itself on ASX to raise funds necessary to progress this lead product, AD-214, towards clinical trials, something the Company hopes to initiate in 2020. In an interview with Insights Success, Dr. Tim Oldham, the CEO of AdAlta shares insightful perspectives and opinions
ABOUT THE LEADER Dr Tim Oldham became CEO of AdAlta in October 2019. He has more than 20-years of experience developing strategies and building businesses in pharma companies and biotechs in Europe and Asia. He sees an opportunity to leverage the “coming of age” moment for any platform company that is getting its rst product into clinical trials to accelerate the growth of the company and signicantly expand its pipeline. He feels, it requires continued focus on delivering lead product candidate AD-214 into clinical trials in mid-2020; development of target selection processes to make smart choices about new products to add to the pipeline; and expanding the product pipeline through internal and partner programs. He believes, this of course requires additional funding and linking the new, expanded vision for AdAlta with an achievable operating strategy and a nancing strategy that continues to build value for existing and new shareholders with a key objective. www.insightscare.com
| March 2020 | 17
about the organization, its vision and mission, its key aspects, and how it strives towards a better tomorrow for its therapeutic discoveries. Below are the highlights of the interview: IS: What are the pioneering healthcare solutions your company caters to. AdAlta’s i-body platform has unique capabilities for drug development. We have focused difficult to drug targets where traditional small molecule and antibody technologies have not been able to deliver optimal therapeutic outcomes. AD-214 is being developed to improve outcomes for fibrotic disease. AdAlta’s innovation has been to discover i-body that can block CXCR4’s fibrotic signaling, but not affect stem cell mobilisation, making it a potential first-in-class drug for IPF and fibrotic diseases. We aim to progress AD-214 into clinical trials in mid-2020. IS: What are your major threats and challenges? What has been your strategy to overcome these? Drug development, particularly biological drug development, has very high rewards when it is successful, but is a risky and expensive process. Financing such programs is always a challenge and we’ve been very fortunate to attract some highprofile, patient investors in our company to date. Our scale is also a challenge - today we are critically dependent on success of a single product, AD-214, and diversifying the pipeline to reduce risks (though this increases cash requirements in the near term). Addressing these challenges requires a very clear strategy for the pipeline, patient investors aligned with the strategy, great execution and biology that delivers the hoped-for outcome. We can control all but the last and this then is the focus of the leadership team. Unfortunately, biology does not always behave as expected or hoped for. For example, AdAlta changed the format of its lead i-body just prior to moving it into clinical trials and this required repeating significant manufacturing and pre-clinical work. Whilst that affected our original clinical program timeline, we made the decision to transition as AD-214 retains the unique therapeutic benefits of AD-114 but delivers enhanced activity and significantly improved half- life. AD214 is also expected to be more attractive to patients and potential pharma partners. IS: Kindly elaborate the company’s major accomplishments? Please mention any awards or accolades received so far, if any. In the past year, AdAlta has successfully completed a Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) non-human primate toxicology study to evaluate safety and toxicology of AD-214, an essential pre-requisite to initial human studies.
18 | March 2020 |
We successfully completed AD-214 cell-line and manufacturing process development and completed manufacturing of clinical (GMP grade) AD-214 bulk drug substance. And we were awarded a Biotechnology Translational Bridge (BTB) program grant from the Australian Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF) to develop a radiolabeled PET imaging agent version of AD-214. It will significantly enhance the information we can obtain about AD214 through initial human studies On the partnership front, we entered a partnership with GE Healthcare to develop pre-clinical targets for diagnostic imaging and received our first ever partnering revenue. We also entered a collaboration with UK-based research organisation, Excellerate Biosciences to identify i-bodies with unique efficacy, safety and duration and determine which ones are best-in-class for binding to drug targets, specifically G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). AdAlta was named as a finalist in the Australian Technologies Competition in 2018 and last year, was named as a Company to Watch in the ANZLF Trans-tasman Innovation and Growth Awards. IS: Kindly brief us about your perspective on the current healthcare industry scenario in Asian countries. Asia’s healthcare industry is at an exciting stage. Ten years ago, it was regarded as a second- or third-tier market where local players were largely copiers of western drugs. The markets have now matured significantly, both in quality of an access to healthcare (so that Asia and China in particular are now high on everyone’s partnering list) and local innovation. We have also seen Japanese pharma increasingly globalise. IS: Where do you see the company in the coming years? What actions have you planned for the same? AdAlta’s mission is to develop multiple i-body based drugs against difficult to drug targets from its platform to address substantial unmet needs. It will use its coming of age as a clinical stage biotech company to accelerate and expand the level of activity on its two revenue streams: development of carefully selected internal product candidates into clinical proof of concept prior to licensing to big pharma (more AD214’s); and developing more partnerships where we codevelop drugs from our platform against targets brought to us by partners (more GE-like deals). IS: Kindly enlighten the upcoming generation of medical science enthusiasts and health-tech entrepreneurs? Biotech and health technology are not for the faint hearted people. You need persistence, resilience and access to great mentors and advisers. Above all, it is really important to start with the end in mind: what product will customers (usually governments or insurers) pay for. I see too many elegant technical discoveries that are not being developed into a useful product because there has not been a consideration of what partners and customers will actually pay for.
www.insightscare.com
BIONEER A Compassionate and Trusted RNAi Therapy Provider
W
ith the least amount of speculations and ambiguity, we can effortlessly say, “It is a good time to be alive.” The context here, is of the radical development we’ve witnessed in the Healthcare discipline over the past few decades. From manual surgeries to use of robotics, from invasive diagnosis and treatment to Nanomedicine, and from visiting the doctor to leveraging the Telehealth approach, everything we know about healthcare is changing. The implicit technological revolution and its consensual acceptance has played a vital role in bringing about this positive change. As much ‘good time’ it is for the common public, so it is for healthcare providers and organizations functioning in the same sector. Advantages of a relatively less-explored arena and probably laying the cornerstones of a new revolution simultaneously, are the possibilities that the healthcare sector has to offer. A number of organizations have created a foothold in the healthcare domain, have evidently leveraged these offerings and have also ceaselessly striven to deliver game-changing technologies, products and services. One among these organizations, which maintains a certain ubiquity of its technology throughout the healthcare domain is Bioneer, a leading biotechnology company with a mission to become a preeminent solution provider in contemporary and reformative healthcare technologies. A Strong Foundation Bioneer, since its inception in 1992, is being steered towards pinnacles of global success by Dr. Han-Oh Park, the Founder, President and CEO. He founded Bioneer Corporation in 1992 with oligonucleotide and enzymes for PCR and genetic engineering. He has also invented hundreds of technologies and instruments for the acceleration of the genomics revolution. “When I started Bioneer, I had been experiencing the revolution of genetic engineering. In 1992, I founded Bioneer as a first biotech in Korea to be a Bio-Pioneering and Bio-engineering company,” Dr. Park expresses. 20 | March 2020 |
Bioneer envisions blazing the biotechnology trail as a pioneer, and delivering the value to people through genetic technologies. In order to achieve the goal, Dr. Park has invested 30-40% of revenue into R&D and developed and commercialized the essential instruments and reagents for molecular biology such as DNA synthesis, sequencing, PCR and RNAi, which aided the company to commercialize four Nobel prizes in Science. Dr. Park is a graduate from the Dept. of chemistry, SNU. He started the research on DNA synthesis in the KAIST and had been a researcher in the molecular biology lab of KRIBB until 1992. His leadership as an innovator of the company has positioned the company as a ‘Bioneering company’ for future healthcare innovation. Exemplifying Excellence Bioneer developed the real-time qPCR first in Asia. During the swine flu pandemic, it developed the first H1N1 diagnostics kit and automated molecular diagnostics system, ExiStation™. The company supplied 2.5 million test kits to the Korean hospital and government healthcare centre, which made the doctors possible to prescribe Tamiflu® after diagnosis only in Korea. The company also started an anti-obesity microbe project in 1999 by drawing inspiration from the controlling of energy uptake through the gut microbe. Lactobacillus Gasseri BNR17® was discovered from human breast milk and developed and approved as the first body-fat-lowering probiotics from Korean MFDS. Bioneer established a subsidiary company, AceBiome Inc. to focus on microbiome business. It was licensed to UAS lab in U.S. and got the 2018 NutraIngredients-USA award in weight management. BNR17® is very successful in the market and AceBiome is growing at a CAGR > 600 % since 2017. Surpassing Challenges Bioneer started with genetic technology and continuously expanded its product offerings in molecular research products which are applicable to next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics. It expanded its R&D to www.insightscare.com
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
SAMiRNA™ (Self-Assembled Micelle inhibitory RNA) platform technology,” he adds. Ascending Zeniths In the year 2000, Bioneer developed a 384-parallel DNA synthesizer which was the highest throughput. The company started fission yeast genome knock-out project to explore every essential genes in cell division, finally completed the S.pombe genome knock-out library and identified key genes in the cell division. Bioneer also invented the high throughput protein synthesizer, called Exiprogen™ which makes more than 90 % pure proteins from template DNA made by PCR reaction within 6 hours. By combining Exiprogen™ with gene synthesis technology, it will accelerate the BIO 2.0 revolution in postgenomic era. Upon the Ebola outbreak, Bioneer collaborated with the Nigerian government (NABDA) and delivered the Ebola diagnostic kits for the earlier diagnosis of the patients. Additionally, during the outbreak of ZIKA, the company developed the first ZIKA multiplex kit (Dengue, chikungunya) and got the first approval of WHO EUAL. Bioneer is the first Asian molecular diagnostics company which has CE-IVD of HIV and HCV viral load kits with their own molecular diagnostic platform.
Han-Oh Park Founder, President and CEO
molecular diagnostics and RNAi therapeutics since 2001 after raising a funding of 25 million. The company is very competitive in both areas, as it has accumulated experiences and high-throughput infrastructure to run R&D efficiently with its products. Nevertheless, the R&D budget is too huge to do developments only with limited capital, especially in the clinical development of various indications for the blockbuster siRNA therapeutics. In order to avoid a cash burnout in clinical developments, Dr. Park established a subsidiary company siRNAgen Therapeutics to accelerate the clinical development of innovative drugs. “We have developed a wide range of anti-fibrosis drug, Amphisiran™ with
www.insightscare.com
Bioneer is also the first supplier of the genomewide siRNA library in Asia. In order to develop next-generation RNAi therapeutics platform, the company invented novel therapeutic siRNA nanoparticle called SAMiRNA™ which overcame the major hurdle of siRNA therapeutics. SAMiRNA™ is free from major adverse effects like innate immune stimulation and also deliverable to different tissues with inflammation and neoplasia. It also can be manufactured at a much lower cost by its simple CMC. In 2020, Bioneer will launch the first SAMiRNA TM cosmeceutical for androgenic alopecia and start the clinical trial of Amphisiran TM, which would be a landmark of SAMiRNA TM. It will also launch a near-patient POC molecular diagnostic platform called ‘IRON-qPCR’ which can inform about most of infected pathogens and AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) within 30 min. Bioneer believes, this will be an essential tool for precision medicine.
| March 2020 | 21
Transforming 22 | March 2020 |
HEALTHC www.insightscare.com
Editor’s Insights
A
massive shift has been witnessed in the generation, consumption, storage, and sharing of healthcare data. From conventional storage to digitalization of healthcare data, the industry has come a long way in optimizing its management practices. The widespread option of moving over to cloud computing in healthcare goes far beyond storing data.
CARE Sector www.insightscare.com
Moving over to cloud has proven to be beneďŹ cial to patients as well as healthcare providers. Cloud technology has helped hospitals, clinics, etc. reduce operational costs while allowing providers to deliver high quality personalized care. The healthcare sector has evolved with the help of cloud technology. Here are some ways cloud has helped the healthcare industry:
| March 2020 | 23
Communication through the Cloud With a cloud-based phone system, doctors can stay connected. There are many reasons why this type of communication is vital today. When the doctors are connected to each other, the communication is reinstated and they could treat the patients better. Even the hospitals should talk to one another every now and then. Also they should have internal communications within the walls of the hospital. This helps them waste less money in developing various different methods and go with the existing techniques. This enables the reduction of treatment costs, as there is no cost of discovering which is also recovered from the patients. Integrated and Efficient Patient Care Managing millions of Electronic Medical Records presents quite a challenge today. Developing infrastructure is working hard to connect the countless trusts, hospitals, surgeries, etc. together through the cloud technology. Cloud computing is changing how doctors, nurses, clinics, and hospitals deliver quality and cost effective services. Patient care was affected during hard times, when costs need to be cut short. Cloud technology has offered numerous benefits like faster prescription advice for various contemporary medical problems. Data Analytics The healthcare sector is expected to grow in unprecedented rate in the following years. Housing the whopping amount of data associated with it will be a big challenge to the IT industries. The most effective solution to this problem seems to be using the cloud technology. Things could be made simple by making sure the data is in the right place so it can be used at the right time across multiple devices. Across one unified network infrastructure, it is impossible to deliver multiple services without cloud. Streamlined Collaboration It is said that streamlined communication results in
24 | March 2020 |
streamlined patient care. This is good because the patients don’t want to be readmitted to the hospital when they could have been taken care of the first time itself. When the whole team is able to communicate efficiently over cloud, readmission of the patient can be avoided. This system allows real time updates which make sure there are no gaps in the treatment. It saves lot of space and money, as there is no need of sending files. Electronic Records Doctors feel the lack of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is a big challenge to improve clinical and financial performance. The interoperability between all the providers and payers is hampered without EMRs. Cloud based EMRs can easily bring healthcare systems together. The technology provides a secure private network that is connected to the cloud. Such records have proven to be extremely protective. This also allows online access of medical records, lab reports, test results etc. to the patients. Eventually, the healthcare experience can be improved while people participate more in their treatments. Security and Mobility Patient data contains confidential information that doctors must always protect. This is a reason that makes it more important for hospitals and doctors to use the cloud technology. Cloud network had issues in regards to security earlier, but over the years measures have been taken to make it difficult to hack into. Increased levels of security and privacy exist in the cloud now. Advanced Clinical Research Sharing data between pharmaceutical giants via cloud will help researchers choose the best subjects. In a recent clinical trial big data revealed desipramine can be used in curing lung cancer. This type of collecting information to find a cure is known as Evidence Based Medicine. It is being used in many healthcare sectors that have now implemented cloud technology.
-Shreevarshita Gupta www.insightscare.com
Cover2Protect A Compassionate and Trusted Telehealth Provider
T
echnology has become a boon for healthcare. Using technology to provide quicker health interventions is soon going to become a norm. There have been areas in which telehealth has been able to help medical professionals. A number of healthcare professionals are providing tele consults and many such health related solutions. Digitalization has allowed the patient to connect the healthcare system easily and conveniently in a way that has never been possible before. Its importance in countries such as India is that startup entrepreneurs are establishing new healthcare systems that are going to be based on digitalization. A startup platform and convergence of digital world, modern medicine, and Ayurveda that is on a mission to transform the future of healthcare delivery around the globe is Cover2Protect(C2P). The inspiration to start Cover2Protect was to make healthcare personalized. It strives to uphold the power of Modern medicine- a curative platform, and Traditional
26 | March 2020 |
medicine- Ayurveda, which an age old preventive measure. Rendering Quality Medical Services Cover2Protect believes the disease development phase which is medically divided into six stages requires dierent intervention approaches. And Ayurveda can prevent the ďŹ rst four stages i.e. Accumulation, aggravation, Spread, Localization. Whereas, the last two stages which is post diagnosis i.e. manifestation and complications, modern medicine is needed to cure it. Cover2Protect was conceived in 2017 to help people through personalized healthcare. It is curated based upon the experiences of professionals from diverse backgrounds of medical, technology and insurance. The Vital Pillars The founders are from diverse background like Data Science, Medicine and Insurance. Rajat Sharma, the Founder & CEO, started C2P with the idea to build an AI platform to make healthcare more personalized. Rajat brings his 15 years of experience in building startups and
www.insightscare.com
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
The organization works closely with hospitals, doctors, Ministry of Health and other regulators to ensure they abide by the rules while attempting to disrupt the way healthcare industry works. For regulatory compliance C2P is been recognized and awarded by various bodies in healthcare, IOT and Artificial Intelligence space. It works with MNC insurance companies, hospitals and government bodies around various POCs to ensure that it has enough feedback to analyze the data. The Artificial Intelligence powered health assessment platform generates a list of medical tests based on family and personal history. The android health applications are also a part of the platform to communicate health tips and follow up consultations. Comprehensive Care C2P is a platform that leverages AI and IOT and data models based on Ayurveda and modern medicine to provide a 360* view for ones personal health insights. It aims to utilize the data (past medical reports, HRA, Vatta-Pita-Kapha body type analysis. It examines the behavioral data ( calories and type of food or drinks consumed daily, activity, travelling etc.) and make health insights more personalized to every human body type.
Rajat Sharma Founder & CEO
growing business in APAC countries to the organization. Co-founders, Dr. Prasanna Ganappa and Nishant Gupta have played a constructive role in building C2P a strong foundation what it is today. Dr Prasanna is skilled in the clinical field whereas Nishant is a seasoned entrepreneur having founded startups in Insurance and Healthcare.
It caters a wide range of wearable devices, medical devices and KIOSK along with mobile apps that can link up the patient or user to his or her concerned doctor, coach or nutritionist .C2P benefits the end user by providing enough data points around the user to enable a seamless and more trustworthy teleconsultation. These services help the assessors in better understanding the patients’ needs and expectations. The online service platform avoids unnecessary clinical hassles. This in turn helps in better outcomes and increased patient satisfaction.
Transparency in its Work Accomplishments The quality system adequately ensures the accuracy and integrity of data to support the safety, effectiveness, and quality of the services it delivers, and data on which it gives the personalized solutions.
www.insightscare.com
C2P has done various POC’s with some of the large Global Insurers in India , Hong Kong ,
| March 2020 | 27
Indonesia and Singapore. C2P takes pride in working with Govt in India and considers it as a remarkable achievement. It has also partenered Uzbekistan and is in discussion with a few more ministries to drive public healthcare and fitness programs. Most recently the startup was invited by ‘The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH)’ to partner as part of a program run by NASA. Cover2Protect was one of the ‘TOP 5 startups’ at the IOT congress in 2018 and the only startups in the healthcare space. It has also been recognized as one of the ‘Top progressive wellness companies in Singapore’ by Longevity international UK. A Bright Future Ahead Nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs, the startup urges them, “if you have an idea to solve a problem in the healthcare space, GO for IT. There are a lot of problems in Asia and we will need a lot of entrepreneurs to solve these problems. There cannot be one organization to solve all problems, hence we will need many small, specialized startups to work collaboratively to solve these problems”. Emphasizing the need for regulations, the organization advices, “one advice to upcoming entrepreneurs in the Healthtech space would be ensure that you look at the regulatory aspects before you start building the platform to avoid heavy changes and roll backs later in the stage of Go to market”. C2P looks for a long term healthcare plan that aims to create the world’s most intelligent AI platform for preventive and curative healthcare embracing Ayurveda, and modern medicine as a holistic approach to healthcare. Further with its experience C2P is planning to replicate its efforts in creating the world’s largest network of Ayurveda (Doctors, dispensaries, nutritionist, Ayurvedic massage, and wellness packages). It envisions to provide users worldwide to tap the 5000 year old power of Ayurveda, and Yoga to deliver wellness digitally using the comprehensive IOS and Android APPs, Medical IoT devices, and wearables based in India. C2P hopes to establish a strong foundation in India by building a platform that could enable users and healthcare providers share quality data based on the Realtime accessible data. To know more visit, http://www.cover2protect.com/
28 | March 2020 |
www.insightscare.com
LIFETRACK MEDICAL SYSTEMS Making Healthcare Software Human
A
ccording to the World Health Organization, nearly two thirds of the world lack access to diagnostic imaging. The problem is compounded by three main challenges: a global shortage of trained radiologists, a skewed concentration of radiologists in urban vs. rural, remote areas, and expensive and limited legacy radiology software (RIS/PACS) that prevent wider usage in emerging markets. Technology in healthcare has benefited healthcare professionals by addressing challenges of access. Radiology has embraced cloud technology, allowing medical professionals accessible, more efficient, and cost-effective solutions. With this innovation, trained radiologists, although few and concentrated in certain areas, will be able to work efficiently with a managed inflow of cases from remote areas, anywhere, anytime. But technology does not erase the inherent problem brought about by the scarcity of radiologists. There is a need to train more radiologists, which, in combination with technological solutions, may be a more sustainable approach to address these challenges. A Singapore-headquartered healthtech enterprise has led this initiative by providing a simple, elegant, powerful and intuitive platform for the healthcare ecosystem.
to Lifetrack’s founder, Dr. Eric Schulze. In 2003, Dr. Schulze co-founded, 24/7 Radiology, one of the first teleradiology companies in the United States. It grew to serve the requirements of 85 sites in the US with radiologist reading centers in Manila, Singapore, Bangalore, and Kolkata. Using the standard radiology software of the time, each reading center required an on-site data center filled with multiple rack-mounted blade servers and expensive Cisco routers and network appliances- representing over US$100,000 in sunk cost per site. Several full-time IT personnel had to be employed at each site to ensure reliable 24/7 uptime. In 2011, Dr. Schulze sold 24/7 Radiology to Alliance Imaging, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company. He started Lifetrack Medical Systems and dedicated himself to rethinking how radiology software could be architected from the ground up to do truly distributed enterprise radiology while eliminating all the operational pain and financial costs he encountered at 24/7 Radiology. As a practicing radiologist, he was determined to create the most flexible but efficient platform that radiologists could use to support any workflow. With the advent of the cloud and browser era, Dr. Schulze architected the nextgeneration LifeSys™ RIS/PACS.
Purpose Linked to the Founder’s Journey LifeSys: Software with a Mission Lack of access to diagnostic imaging and inefficiencies with current legacy RIS/PACS systems are well-known problems 30 | March 2020 |
To give perspective, in the Philippines, there are only about www.insightscare.com
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
1,000 radiologists catering to the entire country’s diagnostic imaging needs. That’s 100,000 individuals per radiologist. Even if only around 1/3 of the Philippine’s population (estimated at a total of 110 million) will ever need just one (1) diagnostic imaging test in a given year, every radiologist would have to work 8 hours straight every day for 360 days averaging only about 6 minutes per study.
Dr. Eric Schulze
“
We are building a company worth working for, with people worth working with on a problem worth solving, and healthcare is a problem worth solving.” Eric Schulze, MD PhD, Chief Executive Officer
“
www.insightscare.com
This problem is aggravated by the disproportionate distribution of radiologists in major cities, leaving smaller cities and especially rural areas and communities without access. In urban areas, it usually takes 2-5 working days from the day of image capture to get a final report. In rural areas, it can take as long as two weeks, with printed x-ray films being shipped from one island to the next where a radiologist is located. Some healthcare institutions will have a radiologist come only once a week. But with the rapid expansion of internet connectivity, much of what used to be restricted to clinical settings can now, from a purely technical perspective, be handled remotely. This includes diagnostic imaging. The LifeSys platform enables a distributed radiology model for an entire provider network that supports diagnostic healthcare in emerging markets at a fraction of the cost. Its architecture allows for rapid transmission, aggregation, and access of diagnostic images through the cloud from multiple clinics in remote areas for Lifetrack partners, using consumer DSL or even 4G. Using off-the-shelf consumer hardware such as standard monitors and computers to allow for affordable adoption in emerging market environments, offering up to 10x savings in upfront setup costs is highly compatible with the LifeSys platform. In resource-constrained emerging markets, this allows healthcare providers
| March 2020 | 31
operating in the affordable segment of the market to upgrade their medical imaging to a fully digital workflow. This helps them harvest cost savings from removing x-ray film production, get more productivity out of their radiologists, and expand to more areas thereby enhancing access to high-quality medical imaging. In addition to extending the reach of existing radiologists, LifeSys was designed to be a cost-effective platform for radiologist training and capacity building. LifeSys includes the Active Templates, an advanced radiology reporting mechanism, and RadNav, a fullyintegrated decision support system, for efficient referencing, education, and diagnostic standardization. RadNav is particularly useful in emerging markets where the standard of specialty training varies and exposure to new modalities such as CT and MRI may still be limited. Improving Patient Lives One of Lifetrack’s partners, the Philippine Tuberculosis Society (PTSI), a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention, control, and treatment of tuberculosis, had to undergo major renovation for its tuberculosis screening clinic on the island of Leyte, which had been ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan a few years previously. PTSI wanted to upgrade its clinic into a state-of-the-art modern facility, equipped with a digital x-ray machine. But with most electrical and telecommunication infrastructure destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan, they could only send images using a mobile phone’s 4G connection. Fortunately, Lifetrack’s LifeSys RIS PACS platform was architected to accommodate low-bandwidth environments without compromising image quality and transmission speed. The clinic is now able to upload diagnostic-grade xrays using 4G to the LifeSys cloud server where a radiologist 900km away is able to access it within five minutes – cutting the time to diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in a remote, underserved area.
an X-Ray. This is a radical improvement on typical waiting times for x-rays in the Philippines of 2-5 days, saving a working-class patient from missing one day’s worth of wages to pick up his report. This is done without any radiologists on-site. Diagnostic imaging is done by radiographers on-site and upload their x-rays to our cloud server using consumer DSL, where a radiologist working remotely is able to access it in real-time. This has allowed FamilyDOC to rapidly scale from an initial two clinics to over 70 clinics in the last five years. Awards and Recognition Lifetrack holds several awards over the past years. In 2016, Lifetrack was the only Philippine representative to win the Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award. In 2017, Lifetrack was awarded in the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards Philippines leg as Best Life Sciences/Medtech Startup. In 2018, Lifetrack won the overall award for Excellence in Disruptive Technologies by the Financial Times Transformational Business Conference and Awards. Most recently in 2019, Lifetrack was recognized as one of the Top 150 Digital Health Startups Redefining Healthcare by CB Insights. Future of Lifetrack Medical Systems Lifetrack aims to be the clear leader in medical imaging for emerging markets, connecting healthcare institutions, medical professionals, and patients from Manila to Marrakech to Medellin. In the next decade we aspire to have helped diagnose tens of millions of patients, a sizeable number of which would not have been able to access medical imaging if not for our technology. This access to medical imaging becomes key in improving overall health outcomes for populations in the developing world, leading to earlier screening of cancer, less invasive procedures later on, and savings for the healthcare system as well as longer, healthier lives for people.
Lifetrack has also improved a customer’s healthcare outcomes and delivery. Since launching with LifeSys, FamilyDOC, a chain of community-based primary-care clinics serving lower middle-class semi-urban areas in the Philippines, now provides diagnosis within 30 minutes of 32 | March 2020 |
www.insightscare.com
EXPERT VALUATION
Healthcare THE FUTURE OF AGEING
T
he world is aging rapidly. What challenges are we confronted with seeing the expansion of people’s life span? How will the healthcare industry evolve and transform to solve these issues? What are the difficulties that we still need to address during this process? In the future, the healthcare will shift from post-disease treatment to daily well-being and disease prevention.
Data generated from Internet of Things (IoT) and personalized artificial intelligence (AI) will enable a consumer-driven life care including precision treatment and chronic disease management. Technologies will be used not only to improve human's physical health, but also to take care of our mental health, behavioural health, loneliness and social isolation. What are the ageing challenges that we are faced with today?
needs of older people with significant losses of capacity is outdated and neither sustainable nor equitable. Besides, today, most health systems around the world are un-adapted and ill-prepared to address the needs of seniors, who often have multiple chronic conditions and live alone at home. Health services are often designed to cure acute conditions rather than prevent them, while WHO says that 80% of chronic diseases and 40% of cancers are preventable. Meanwhile, people live longer but lonelier. Loneliness experienced by seniors both affects and is affected by social activities, solitary leisure activities, physical exercise, emotional health, self-rated health, and functional limitations. Early interventions for loneliness are cited as the key to both preventing social isolation and the associated health risks. How can we solve these issues?
The world is getting old in a faster pace than ever. According to the United Nations, the 60+ population will more than double from 1 in 7 people in the world to 2 in 7 by 2050, which constitutes a shift from 12% to 22% of the total population. In China where I live, the Seniors population will rise to 4 in every 10 people in the total Chinese population, i.e. 500 million people, further straining the already overloaded aged care infrastructure in the country. However, facing this Silver Tsunami Bombing across the world, the caregivers that we need for seniors are in great shortage. Globally, the proportion of younger people who might be able to provide this care is falling, and women, the traditional caregivers within many families, are already filling, or aspiring to, other social and economic roles. As a result, the assumption that families alone can meet the 34 | March 2020 |
Health care industry players should begin taking actions today with the vision for 2050 in mind. There are many things that we should do to get there, some of the most critical actions can be to adopt emerging technologies, and create now solutions and business models from them. Real-time health monitoring Currently, there is no systematic health monitoring measures in place that bring transparency and awareness to a senior's health status or provide risk warnings at an early stage. By the time they visit a hospital, chronic diseases have often become too advanced and hence challenging to cure effectively. The good news is that IoT, electronic devices, and www.insightscare.com
Charles Bark, Founder & CEO of HiNounou
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Charles Bark is the Founder & CEO of HiNounou, an AI-Blockchain preventative digital healthcare platform company on a mission to help empower the silver generation to Live Longer, Healthier and Happier, at home, and bring greater Peace of Mind to their families. HiNounou is located in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, expanding in Korea, Japan and Europe. Charles is named himself by French president Macron as one of the Top 3 French entrepreneurs in AI in China. www.insightscare.com
| March 2020 | 35
wearables are able to gather real-time health data easily in our daily life. From those data, risk factors can be identified, some diseases can be detected and interventions can be implemented at the right time. For example, HiNounou is offering a dedicated Home Wellness Kit to seniors, which enable them and their families to be aware of seniors' health status and prevent chronic diseases. Some real estate companies are building assisted living facilities that are equipped with smart medical devices, sensors, alarms and voice-activated assistants to take care of older residents. Accessible and affordable telehealth Telehealth is gaining momentum these days in China with the expansion of the coronavirus outbreak. Key players like PingAn Good Doctor and WeDoctor as well as main insurance companies are providing 7*24 teleconsultation for people who are anxious about the coronavirus disease. No matter in which country, the capacity of hospitals or clinics can rarely meet the needs of citizens who are living longer but less healthy. The widespread use of mobile phones enables the surge of telehealth that grants people more accessible, affordable and efficient health care services. Seniors will see doctors at home by phone call or in front of a screen, a personal health report will be generated and constantly updated, which can serve as reference for further medical evaluation and treatments in hospitals.
Psychological care at stake. Beyond physiological health, some seniors are suffering from mental health issues linked to loneliness, depression and deep grief, leading many of them are turning to suicide. To reduce their isolation and help them be more involved in the society, many countries have built elderly communities and even elderly universities where they can get a sense of belonging and comfort. Besides, technologies can also help in various ways. Sensors can measure their sleep quality and degree stress, robots can chat and entertain with seniors, social media can connect friends of same interests with them, etc. What will we need to think about more? Having taken look into the above solutions that respond to the challenge of ageing society, there still remain many problems that we need to think about more. Here I just list some of them to start the brainstorming: An integrated ecosystem rather than a fragmented one. We notice that current health system tends to manage health issues in disconnected and fragmented ways that lack coordination across care providers, settings, time and location. The leading business models should be based on holistic solutions that can adapt to the challenges of many generations to come. Data privacy and data exchange.
Gamification for behaviour and lifestyle changes Many chronic conditions can be prevented or delayed by healthy behaviours. Even in very advanced years, physical activity and good nutrition can have powerful benefits on health and well-being. Nevertheless, it’s not easy to change people’s behaviours and lifestyles, that’s why wearables like Fitbit have been proved as a failure since people usually don’t wear it for more than six months. One of the answers to this challenge is incentives through gamification. For instance, Chinese insurTech company ZhongAn has designed a product which enables users to redeem insurance coverage with the number of steps that they make every day, thus encouraging the users to walk more and stay active. HiNounou is also using Blockchain based utility token to reward and incentivize the seniors to take health check-ups every day.
36 | March 2020 |
People feel strongly about the right to privacy of their personal health data. When it comes to technologies, the suspicion about who will be using the personal data and to what ends grows. How can we better protect the data and give transparency to data exchange? The use of Blockchain might be explored here. Values from data mining Although the application of big data analytics in healthcare fields is promising, it is critical to solve some challenges to dig out real value from data. An effort to improve the data quality of electronic health records is necessary. The issues of data inconsistency and instability, limitations of observational studies, and validation should be also solved.
www.insightscare.com
Offering Conclusive Technical Solution For Healthcare
O
ver the years we have seen how technology has revolutionized the world and our daily lives. With the help of technology, some of the greatest minds were able to put useful information at our fingertips and even create amazing tools. All the up and coming and already existing technologies have paved the way for multi-functional devices like a smartwatch, smart glasses, 4k TVs, smartphone and many others. The purpose of all these technologies is to make the lives of humans better, smarter and seamlessly easy. The exhaustive reach of technology has some splendid results in business too. These technologies have not only helped vendors to stay ahead in the market but also changed every aspect of the business. Today, aligned with excellent technology service providers, these vendors are offering that services to better serve humans and address their problems. Adhering to the same, a group of software developers at Origin Integrated Studios are making a positive difference by developing innovative and creative healthcare application software solutions. Let us further read to find out what inspired the company to do what it does and how has it successfully established its name in the market. Charting the Initiation Story “Software Development is one of the most diverse sophisticated jobs in the market. Here in Origin Integrated Studios, we have one of the most passionate and talented software development team. Together we are making our mark in the world, developing important, stable and complex applications solving current industry problems,” were the first words of Mr. Kenneth Kee, the CEO of the company. From its humble beginnings in 2015, when Origin was set up for Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia Status by a handful team of software developers in a small office to the present day, the technical team has grown to over 38 | March 2020 |
twenty; the company today has grown in/by leaps and bounds. Challenges Along the Way No success is complete without challenges. Origin Integrated Studios too had its share of challenges to face. During the initial days, the company struggled to gain confidence in the market. Though the company had the best solutions to offer (compared to 2015 markets), healthcare vendors were not confident about these solutions. However, the continuous endeavor of the company is to offer solutions that catered to all problems. “We had to go low in terms of pricing, and willing fill the missing requirement gaps by customization and developing new modules such as Operation Theatre Module and Chemotherapy Module,” shares Mr. Kee. The challenges are no less even today. It faces competition from both local and foreign solution providers both in terms of human resources and product differentiation. The company believes that it is not easy to find local talents that have both technical skills and domain knowledge required to provide its services to the clients and to further develop the products. However, despite all the company has equipped itself to offer technical solutions to all type of healthcare emergencies. It intends to keep up with high demand for the new opening of hospitals and be ever-ready to digitalize the healthcare industry in Malaysia. “Origin started with a vision. Passion brings it alive. Our team dedication and devotion build customer's loyalty and continuity. Origin has an intentional purpose to build a long-lasting great brand that inspires. We never be ashamed to start small, we never be afraid to dream big,” comments Mr. Kee. The Technophile Leading from Front Mr. Kee embarked on his entrepreneurial journey by www.insightscare.com
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
care industry. However, in this age of breakneck speed, none of the Malaysian companies were to develop software that offered a comprehensive healthcare solution. This where Origin stepped in and developed its application software. Its flagship product, Origin EMR can be integrated into any third-party HIS system, or connected directly to its Origin HIS. This unique positioning allows its clients to have a choice of implementing EMR first in their hospital. Origin HIS is a backend administration process system that includes administration, security access, registration, billing, collection & refund, stock inventory, pharmacy, and reporting.
Kenneth Kee
CEO
“
We strongly believe that by following your passion and by doing the job you love is the formula of a successful team and company
“
implementing an EMR solution in just one hospital back in 2015. The company later implemented more than 30 sites in just five years. Under his leadership, Origin Integrated Studios is on its way to becoming a household brand of healthcare technology solution provider for hospital information systems in Malaysia and beyond. His perseverance, aligned with the passion of all the software developers, has helped the company bag numerous awards and recognition. Pioneering Technical Health Care solutions Electronic Medical Record or EMR is not a new term in the health www.insightscare.com
Below are the detail modules and functionalities of this software include: • Appointment & Scheduling • Medical Records Management • Outpatient & ER Registration • Admission, Discharge & Transfer • Accident & Emergency Management • Outpatient (OP) Management • Inpatient (IP) & Bed Management • Patient Billing, Account Receivable and Cashiering • Chemotherapy Module • Government Tax • Payor Agreement & Staff Benefit • Charity • Pharmacy Module (OP, IP & OTC) • Purchasing • Inventory Management • Allied Health – Laboratory, Radiology & Physiotherapy/Rehab • Operating Theatre (OT) Management • Catheterization Lab Management • Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) • Dietary Management & Food Order List for Kitchen • Management Dashboard • Regulatory Submission • Healthcare Accreditations Complimenting Features • Queue Management • Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) • Doctors EMR (with type/write/draw/template clinical notes capturing support) | March 2020 | 39
• Nursing Module • Document Scanning Management Module • And other Specialists Modules e.g Dental & Eyes • Integrated Communication System inclusive of SMS, messaging, email, etc. • Integration Engine for interfaces with various IT systems This software has been developed with over 10 years of industry experience which touts high adoption rates amongst doctors and nurses. By providing simplistic user interface designs, Origin EMR allows doctors to either type or write/draw clinical notes using a lightweight Tablet PC or notebooks with stylus pen. It also allows to store and load their favorite templates. Everything in Origin EMR is template-driven by Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE). It allows healthcare professions to customize medications, lab, and radiology orders while connecting with other systems such as Laboratory Information System (LIS), Radiology Information System (RIS), Hospital Information System (HIS), medical equipment and devices such as vital signs monitor in the hospital together through an HL7 communication protocol. With this in place, the software also allows professionals to get KPI dashboard reporting of the hospital’s performance at their fingertips. The software provides interoperability, efficient clinical services and better patient safety in many ways: With CPOE: • Physician orders are automatically routed to ancillary services departments for more efficient services • Improve patient safety by reducing potential human errors due to traditional manual transcription of doctor orders With EMR: • Real time entry and fast access of electronic medical records • Improve patient safety through better documentation of care given • Provide system generated reports required by insurance or discharges • Accessing of patient information with mobile devices With Nursing module: • Online nursing documentation for care plan, order fulfillment, eMAR & etc • Online clinical handover during shift for better & safer care • Accessing of patient information with mobile devices
40 | March 2020 |
With Document Scanning Management module: • Digitizing and online filing of paper-based clinical documentation • Seamless integration with EMR to achieve complete online patient records With Reporting module: • Provide accurate reporting mechanisms to assist management decision and promote accountability • Leveraging on the integrated platform for ease of data collection • Using configurable graphical dashboard reporting for data analytics • Automate accurate reporting Sketching the Future From one hospital in 2015, over 30 successful implementations of 17 hospitals and 13 dialysis clinics in four years in 2019, Origin is scaled up for new horizons. With more than ten years of experience in the healthcare industry and in-depth domain knowledge in hospital process flow and requirements as well as healthcare solutions, the company looks forward to remaining at the forefront as the market leader. The new technologies as part of product roadmap that the company has already started integrating to vital signs monitor with its Early Warning Score (EWS) dashboard, provide the following benefits: • Making the clinical workflow more efficient • Incorporating multimedia features and functionalities that support telemedicine when it is available • Integrating with more remote care devices and IoMT include remote patient monitoring for home nursing • Data warehousing for group hospitals/clinics to perform analytics and group reporting • Instant availability of information in patient portal Some new modules as part of product roadmap to be developed are • Insurance & Corporate Claim Management • Clinical Research • Mobile App modules e.g Patient Portal Origin Integrated Studios will also continue providing stateof-the-art products developed through continuous research and development, to achieve creative innovations and solutions.
www.insightscare.com
V2U HEALTHCARE Setting Benchmarks in Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Care
T
echnology has made our lives easy. Don’t feel like cooking, get food delivered. Don’t feel like driving to work, get a cab at your door, and even working remotely from the comforts of our homes.
Technology has really got our back. Or has it? While the answer is a big yes, technology has literally got our backs into pain too. The human body is one giant machine and like every other good machine, it needs to function regularly to stay fit. If you leave a machine out-of-work for long or make it work in stressful situations, it is bound to rust or breakdown respectively. Same goes for the human body. Our work is mostly sedentary and involves devices which hamper our natural stature leading to issues like back pain, neck pain etc. Those involved in sports face issues like a muscle pull, ligament issues and more. Keeping oneself fit and pain-free has become an arduous task for human beings and a big opportunity for those who can see it. The Asian healthcare market, especially that of Physiotherapy which deals with pain management, is growing explosively. The affluent societies in Asian economies are creating greater demands for Quality and easy access to healthcare facilities. With a sharp focus on South East Asia market which accounts for about 650 million population, and lacks significant infrastructure for healthcare Facilities, V2U Healthcare has been spreading its wings to provide innovative Physiotherapy Rehabilitation and Electrotherapy equipment. Managing Pain V2U’s Physio Asia Therapy Centre in Singapore specializes in providing back and neck pain management. The company has its proprietary back pain management program called ‘SCORES’. This program offers comprehensive assessment and management of patients using in-house products and technologies such as – V2U Trac Pro spinal decompression therapy system for disc herniated and related problems. For long term recovery, the team at V2U suggests working
42 | March 2020 |
on Core Muscles strengthening techniques. This can be achieved by using V2U Imaging Ultrasound that targets specific muscles for strength training along with Achievo Pressure Biofeedback system to monitor and record the information on core muscles performance. “Our team consist of Physiotherapy experts who have years of experience in managing such patients through this approach with great success. This Program is available to other facilities as well as on licensing mechanism,” adds Dinesh Verma, the Founder and Managing Director. An Astute Leader Having trained as a clinical professional physiotherapist, Dinesh, while working in a clinical capacity with hospitals in Singapore, noticed a big gap between the Industry and professionals. He could sense that there was a need for someone to fill the gap so that the industry and its technological advancements could make sense to professionals. Once he saw the requirement, he took the plunge and decided to move his career towards product development, management and business development. The first step towards it was to prepare himself academically and in terms of soft skills including managerial ones. So, in the early 90s he pursued part-time studies in Business Administration and later completed an MBA from Henley Management College in 1999. Once equipped with the necessary skills, he ventured into business by taking a job as Product Manager with Singapore Medical Device distribution company in 1997 and later in 2002, established his first company in partnership with his past employer. As the Founder and Managing Director of V2U Healthcare, Dinesh has established the company’s vision and mission and worked on crafting strategies to fulfil desired outcomes. He always wanted to create a difference by being a Solution Provider and not merely a distributor of physiotherapy products. Hence he, along with his team, emphasized on careful technology selection; invested in employee learning and educating the customer. To remain relevant, he established V2U’s clinical services in Physiotherapy in 2006 – Physio Asia Therapy Centre. This also provided as a
www.insightscare.com
ASIA'S
10
MOST
Pioneering HEALTHCARE SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020
Dinesh Verma Founder & Managing Director
competition is a healthy sign for market development. He also states that V2U is aware of and equipped with new technologies, and unhesitatingly approaches development. As someone who believes in the famous quote “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently,” Dinesh is always on the lookout for advancements and is more than happy to adopt new methods and technologies in V2U’s portfolio as long as they meet the company’s screening criteria. He feels that those who can manage their resources effectively and efficiently will emerge as the winner. Miles to Go Dinesh and his team’s winning attitude has been lauded at several platforms. In 2011 Dinesh was awarded the Most Promising Entrepreneur Award by Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards. In 2014, he won the Physio Ratna – Highest Award honour given to one physiotherapist each year by Indian Association of Physiotherapists.
“
We envision becoming a leading rehabilitation medicine, healthcare & wellness industry solution provider in Singapore and Asia.
“
test-bed for the company’s technologies and concepts. A Growing Industry with Promising Opportunities The Physiotherapy and Rehab Medicine market is still at the infancy stage in most of the Asian country and that provides great growth opportunity, not without challenges. The market players are constantly challenged by emerging competition and technologies. As an entrepreneur, Dinesh feels that healthy competition helps in growing the market. Healthcare and especially rehabilitation medicine market is huge and still underdeveloped and a healthy www.insightscare.com
In 2018, Singapore Prestige Brand Award 2018 was given to V2U for Physio Asia Therapy Centre – Singapore. More recently, in 2019 Dinesh was awarded the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur Awards in Promising Enterprise category. These are just a few of the many accolades. Additionally, V2U Healthcare, as a company, has accomplished ISO 13485 certification and also received Singapore Quality Class and Singapore Service Class certifications. V2U has positioned itself to take on the S-E Asian markets for its growth needs. It has invested in establishing its subsidiaries in key countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. V2U is moving with a strategy to vertically integrate its business – at one end it is developing and introducing Own Brand value-added products and at another end, it is planning to invest in its Own Centre of Physiotherapy – currently in Singapore and Manila and planned for 2020 in Kuala Lumpur. Having a vertically integrated approach in a niche market will be the key to success for V2U in future.
| March 2020 | 43