Informining is a compound word that combines info of information and Mining of data mining, meaning that it will extract information and make something meaningful. Our company’s goal is to provide services to create a world for people with advanced technology. Now, it is starting in the medical field, but after the service for all patients is provided, it plans to expand into various fields.It is difficult to say that it is a company that provides medical services. It’s just a company that develops health monitoring solutions. Among the world’s top five diseases, the artificial intelligence healthcare Hattihati service has been developed to help heart disease patients detect abnormalities and maintain life through 24-hour electrocardiogram and blood pressure checks. Currently, technologies are being developed to help patients in areas other than diagnosis and prescription within regulations.Hattihathii’s major artificial intelligence (AI) services can be largely divided into three areas: calibration AI, electrocardiogram analysis AI, and personalized AI. Here, calibration AI is an AI developed to satisfy the limitation of a smart device as an H/W, and is an AI to increase the accuracy of the device’s measured value compared to a medical device. Second, ECG analysis AI is an AI that checks and diagnoses heart diseases, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia found in hospitals, and it is an analysis AI that makes it possible to see the heart from 12 angles. Finally, personalized AI is an AI that sets the normal range standard for different biological signals for each person, which alarms risk figures and records them in case of simple abnormal signals. Some have been developed and some are almost finished or are in the verification stage. I took care of my father and mother for more than 10 years. In particular, in the case of my mother, I couldn’t go out alone at home because of blood pressure and heart problems. After my parents died, I felt that there were many problems with similar cases, so I developed an artificial intelligence for medical self-diagnosis, which was selected for a government support project and started a business.Actually, I originally wanted to be a doctor. Of course, the reason was greatly influenced by my parents, but I had to take care of them because of my father’s worsening condition. No one could make money, so in the early 20s, I did a similar job as an intern. However, my mother was fighting various cancers, and my sister also suffered a lot due to her weak constitution.

For a long time, I did not know what to do while caring for my parents, so I went to all offices in Seocho-dong or Guro-dong to tell them stories and circumstances and asked them to work. Consulting seemed to suit my aptitude, so while preparing to work, a warrant flew in and I had to go to the army. After being discharged from the military, I thought about my career path, took the SAT to go to the U.S., and luckily passed UCLA. However, there was a setback in the plan to go through state support, so I had no choice but to give up. When I entered college and was contemplating another career path, my mother’s illness worsened and I started fighting against the disease, and this time I started caring for my mother again. At this time, he could not enter the house for almost three years, lived in a hospital, and took care of the patient, and the surgery went well, but his mother eventually died due to a recurrence. One of the things that was really hard at this time was that there was no window for patients or guardians to know information at all. I had no means to manage my health at home. Since Korea is a medical powerhouse, the technology for treatment is really good, but the problem is that there is no way to know the information. At this time, I desperately felt that I should know my physical condition and be able to manage it on my own, and this was the opportunity to develop Hearty Hearty. The company’s establishment process has been examined, and the U.S., Australia, Japan, and China are currently making results in providing solutions and measuring data solutions in hospitals and healthcare fields, and it is being programmed and used as a monitoring solution for patients, wards, and doctors through the application of university hospitals in Korea. Based on this, investment and licensing contracts are being made in various countries to apply these performance solutions.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.
▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee
▲ http://infomining.co.kr
▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr
▲ +82-70-4914-2970

H.S HA
Asia Journal

Due to COVID-19, the world has experienced a pandemic and has become a “world where it is not natural.” This has caused mixed feelings in markets around the world. As non-face-to-face meetings such as remote classes and meetings became prevalent, the face-to-face industry was reduced and the growth of the digital industry accelerated.And at the heart of it is the digital healthcare industry.  Safety controversy and ambiguous guidelines for health-related digital medical services have hampered the digital health industry. However, as COVID-19 intensifies, face-to-face treatment becomes difficult, interest in non-face-to-face telemedicine has increased, and interest in the digital health industry has soared worldwide.  Today, we’re going to talk about the digital healthcare industry, which has endless possibilities. Digital healthcare is remote and aims to help you manage your personal health, predict disease, and enjoy a better life by going further from diagnosing and treating diseases. Basically, it has the characteristics of 4P. Predictive, preventive. Patient engagement, personalized/personalized.  These four characteristics provide customized services and health care. And because it’s a ‘digital’ healthcare industry, the biggest foundation is data. It analyzes through various personal data, enables telemedicine and care without visiting, and individuals have their own “health doctors.” Data collection mentioned in this part, especially the purpose of care and the area of medical diagnosis prescription, can be raised as a boundary or competition structure between digital healthcare and professional doctors. However, specialists have already recognized digital healthcare as a trend, actively utilized, and used it.

Infomining has built an integrated monitoring solution based on artificial intelligence (based on shared legal data).In addition, basic health measurement wearable devices with simple and accurate accuracy are also produced and produced by themselves.Currently, both Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch have various performances and functions in conjunction with smartphones, and the design considering consumers’ preferences is also excellent.However, it clearly falls short of the area of professional healthcare devices, and consumers are not using it as professional healthcare. Infomining’s devices already exceed the measurements compared to professional medical devices.This has already been tested on university hospital specialists and patients in Korea and is being implemented based on about 100 beds in the actual inpatient ward, and based on this, it is planned to be used in more than 1,000 medical university wards. It can be said to be the core of the smart ward currently being promoted.(Yonsei University Hospital, Korea)

By applying this, it is certainly improving excessive work for medical staff, especially nursing assistants. Usually, Korean university hospital workers are managed 24 hours a day in three shifts, but professional nursing staff must check patients at all times, visit the ward, check their vitals, and conduct medical activities.(Medication and Prescription, Emergency Action) Thus, an integrated monitoring system through a device built with infomining can check and take action through the system in one space. This can be said to be the core of being built as a smart ward.

It was confirmed that not only large hospitals but also examination centers are approaching a number of movements to introduce and cooperate with infomining development technology for daily life pre- and post-care

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

H.S HA

ASIA JOURNAL

Let me introduce infomining Co., Ltd., a company that studies human health and happiness.

In order to make life more convenient and enjoyable, we will become a global smart healthcare company that provides the best healthcare services by researching and developing human-centered and innovative technologies.Although there are many difficulties and difficulties to overcome as a venture company, we will continue to develop and strive to realize transparent management and sustainable management by taking advantage of the crisis as an opportunity.By doing so, we will become a more prestigious and competitive company, and with continued efforts, we will become a global smart healthcare leading company that provides the best health care to our customers, aiming to become one of the top 10 innovative unicorn companies in 2025.This is the slurgeon of infomining.As a large Korean hospital currently being promoted, Yonsei Medical Center will push for a project to “build a customized whole-cycle management model for MZ generation mothers” based on digital solutions.This project is supported by the “2022 Smart Hospital Leading Model Development Support Project” organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Promotion Agency. Professor Kim Yong-wook, head of Severance Hospital’s medical innovation division, will oversee the project as a lead researcher, while Lemon Healthcare, infomining, Heron Health Information System, and MizMedi Hospital will participate as cooperative organizations.

The “establishment of a full-cycle management model tailored to the MZ generation” project aims to create a safe childbirth environment and secure continuity in treatment by developing a childbirth support program that reflects the characteristics of the MZ generation.MZ generation mothers born in 1981-2005 have a high understanding of ICT technology, such as difficulty visiting hospitals for face-to-face treatment due to economic activities and concerns over COVID-19, but there is a lack of a systematic support system for MZ generation births, such as a decrease in ▲ childbirth hospitals ▲ imbalance between regions ▲ maternal age.Accordingly, Yonsei Medical Center will establish a customized education and management system for mothers such as providing ▲ education and management contents through the MZ generation’s full-cycle management model ▲ implement non-face-to-face cooperation and guidance functions by upgrading mobile apps ▲ 1st to 3rd, and establish information exchange channels between regions.First of all, it plans to provide various services for mothers and guardians through the development of the ICT platform “Smart Mom Care.” Mothers and guardians can receive education and counseling online, and medical staff can monitor the condition of the hospitalized mother in real time. In addition, a maternal and newborn management system will be established in connection with non-face-to-face cooperation between primary and tertiary medical institutions and home care projectsThis year, the “Smart Hospital Project,” which creates a new medical model using ICT in medical care, will be launched in three areas: operating room, hospitalization environment, and patient guardian education.

To this end, Chungnam National University Hospital Consortium, Seoul National University Hospital Consortium, Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital Consortium, and Severance Hospital Consortium will develop leading models, respectively.The Ministry of Health and Welfare held a briefing session on the launch of the 2022 Smart Hospital Leading Model Development Support Project at Maple Hall on the 4th floor of The Plaza Hotel in Seoul on the morning of the 20th and announced the full-fledged implementation of the project.This year, three areas of “patient-centered communication” (smart operating room/smart hospital environment/patient guardian education) were invited to create a hospital environment that supports understanding and communication at the patient’s eye level, and four consortiums were selected by evaluating business goals, strategies, detailed plans, and possibilities.”Patients reduce discomfort, doctors focus only on treatment”… Dramatic improvement of the medical service process When the “integrated medical platform” that effectively utilizes AI analysis results using such analyzed medical data is activated, it is expected to not only upgrade medical services, but also secure efficiency of the entire medical industry and reduce social costs. In particular, if AI-based “integrated medical platform” is used, it is expected that it will be able to lead to innovative improvement in procedures only in terms of medical processes. According to infomining, when looking at the current treatment process of domestic hospitals and clinics, patients need an average of about an hour and a half to wait before receiving a prescription. Patients should be on standby for each procedure, including initial examination, examination, reading, medical treatment, and prescription On the other hand, the reality is that doctors cannot secure enough direct medical time with patients. However, if the “integrated medical platform” is used, high-quality medical services that can fully utilize the data analyzed through AI will be possible.Of course, ICT-based ‘smart health’ is a blueprint that has already been presented in the medical and IT industries for a long time. However, the development was not faster than expected due to the problem of technical difficulty and internal interests of the medical industry.

However, as the concept of “AI-based integrated medical platform” has recently emerged at home and abroad, and as advanced models have been presented, expectations for medical process innovation are also growing much higher than before.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

H.S HA

Asia Journal 

Every institution believes that an integrated management system should be implemented. Educational institutions evaluates their students on each subject rather than giving them an overall grading. Based on this statement, this system of intergrated management is reflected in all areas and I find it strange.

When you finally enter a capitalistic society, separate management proceeds very thoroughly. Even if you graduate with a grade, if you enter the TA class, you will concentrate on a specific subject. At that moment, I thought to take a different approach with Bucketgram.

From the beginning, Bucketgram, a company that focusses on anti-aging, has been unconsciously working alone on integrated care.

In a way, in a society where competition is valued for money, consumer goods and luxury goods like now are putting a subtle battle between consumers who have received such evaluations.

It gets to the point where people don’t want to share the products they’re using.

Although I started talking grandly, what I’m trying to say is not a long message.

Not everyone can win 100%. The product sold by Bucketgram are exceptionally difficult. That is why you might find it difficult to understand what I’m trying to say. It is inevitable because it is a non-linear expression.

I wouldn’t market our product by saying, “Use our product to improve your skin.”

We try to raise awareness in the issue of skin care and show all all problems are related. Of course the “cleansing” aspect is the most important part but we dont just focus on washing our faces. We focus on the problems that are forgotten.

If you’re going on a diet, we falsely promote a fast and immediate result from taking our product.

We are trying to inform customers who want to lose weight in a short time while trying to know why they gain weight, to understand that it is a profit-and-loss choice, and to interpret the purpose of dieting.

Here’s the most important part about health care. Depending on basic management and individual physical conditions, the company focuses on finding organic correlations and enhancing the overall balance, not controlling one or two situations in which the balance eventually collapses.

There is more thats is going on than meets the eye. All products in the “made by grace” line up won’t promote themselves as a product that can fix all problems.

And even if it’s known that a single ingredient can solve the problem, it’s important to make a product that’s more focused on the cause of the problem. It blooms alone like a lotus flower in this market where persuasion prevails in one direction, and nevertheless, it is still struggling on the spot to bloom once again in time.

It’s not ideal to run brands that contain these beliefs, but it is a problem we can not ignore.

EUNSUK CHOI

GRACE & HONEST

Beauty and Health Coordinator

(Source from Reuters/Alamy)Wellness is a combination of well-being, happiness, and fitness, and refers to an ideal condition in which physical, mental, and social health are harmonized.

This is a concept that emerged as the well-being trend has spread socially since the 2000s. In other words, well-being has been expanded to the concept of well-being as it aims for comprehensive health in all aspects such as mental and social health as well-being as well-being. Meanwhile, as Wellness rises, jobs have also emerged that manage customers’ weight, eating habits, and stress to maintain comprehensive health, and support them to achieve their health goals, which are called “wellness coaches.

(Source from Reuters/Alamy)”A word that combines well-being and fitness. It means a happy (well-being) and healthy (fitness) life.It is becoming a new industry that combines ICT (Information Communication Technology) and Bio Technology (BT). Products and services that cover remote treatment systems for the elderly or patients with mobility difficulties and strive to prevent diseases of healthy people have begun to appear in the market one after another. Is there any company that practices and utilizes company-centered as it is? GB Soft (coo: kibum-park) is a video-based solution using artificial intelligence. Beyond simple wellness, the project was started based on security and safety in the labor business group based on a more specific medical area. Large construction companies in Korea are concentrated in groups centered on apartment housing culture.

(Source from Reuters/Alamy)As a result, after the Pendemic crisis, GB Soft was recognized for its technology and solution, and is currently approaching about 1-2,000 large apartments as a self-developed video solution. In addition, solutions have already been supplied to duty-free shops that require close contact, and video-based solutions have also been applied to health care solutions to improve the working environment of industrial groups and workers. Korea’s largest telecommunication company (KT) and elderly welfare care services, including automobile production sites and fruit parts production sites, are also approached to health management as an artificial intelligence image analysis solution for the elderly in new city development areas. This approach is shown to be most efficient in wellness and health care. In the midst of this, medical care companies (hospitals and ward management companies), database companies, and IT companies have been showing interest and approaching large Japanese companies. In addition, life insurance companies are also approached as solutions and are signing licensing contracts. As you know, insurance companies want to provide services to various disease control and customers. As a result, the area of GB SOFT seems endless. It is leading to wellness + healthcare = medical care.

EJ SONG

ASIA JOURNAL

Currently, Infomining has registered five domestic patents related to medical AI, including Singled Judgment System, Emergency Monitoring, Hospital Control System, Smart Quarantine System, and Disease Diagnosis Agency Information Service Technology and System, and Natural Language Processing AI and ECG Judgment System. In addition, the AI ECG judgment system surpassed the level of Google and IBM in FIScore, a related medical indicator, and the papers submitted to the AI Conference, the world’s most prestigious, received excellent reviews at the conference. Although numerous studies are being conducted and services are being developed, the purpose of infomining is only one. How to create and deliver services quickly and better, and develop the healthcare industry so that both patients and medical staff can live better. In the case of artificial intelligence healthcare, there are a lot of homework to solve, but as it deals with health, I want to secure a lot of data through steady clinical trials to provide AI medical solutions that are recognized not only in Korea but also around the world. If it pays off its continuous efforts, it can be listed as an innovative unicorn company or is running toward the goal of becoming a leading company in the global smart healthcare field. It has already developed devices based on its own firmware to Chinese manufacturers to prove to hospitals the efficiency comparable to that of general diagnostic equipment medical devices. Currently, about 500 units are being delivered to university hospitals and implemented, and general public companies such as Korea Electric Power Corp. are also being requested for solutions.It is also in the process of customizing the solution after a licensing contract with Tela-doc, a U.S. healthcare company, and is now a medical device with official software.It is in progress with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea for approval certification, and more than 70% of it is in progress.It is expected that he will be disqualified. It is not just artificial intelligence-based non-face-to-face treatment, it is more accurate and efficient, makes it easier for medical personnel lacking in fendemic situations, and it not only relieves regret but also makes this small research company feel infinite value.CEO Jae-yong said, “Our purpose is to create an automation platform so that artificial intelligence can analyze low data and use it as an auxiliary indicator or refer it to medical treatment when drawing conclusions through deep learning. A service that draws conclusions with data will antagonize doctors, but I think it’s much more efficient for doctors to see if they can use the results that AI analyzes and generates through deep learning.”

It has also touched on an optical character recognition (OCR)-based AI solution business that helps insurance companies process claimants’ documents automatically. If insurance employees obtain the claimant’s consent without having to check the documents one by one, AI directly provides medical and prescription information. In January, Infomining signed an MOU with Kyobo Life Insurance to test OCR AI solutions and planned to release them as products in the first half of 2022. It also signed an agreement with BroadcnS, which provides AICC-based medical counseling services to 70 hospitals in Korea, including Seoul National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, and Korea University Medical Center, to further strengthen its AI medical big data API businessUnlike Korea, the U.S. has a long medical treatment time of 20 to 30 minutes, but it is expected that the use of pre-examination will reduce the amount of traffic and increase the efficiency of treatment. Although it is a startup that has only been established for three years, it is rumored that it highly evaluated the completeness of the pre-examination system that predicts diseases and requested it to Infomining. Since information mining is in the pilot stage, it plans to listen to the needs of users more and supplement them to increase the completeness according to the current situation.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

H.S HA

ASIA JOURNAL

Lee Jae-yong, CEO of Infomining, is busy these days. In addition to daily meetings and meetings, there are constant calls from home and abroad that they are interested in technology.

CEO Lee Jae-yong contacted Korea and the U.S. (local medical hospitals and institutions in the U.S.) and said, “We are getting calls from ITbook, Kitahara   International  Hospital, Inocheer Medical Device Company, Inoue Hospital, and Smart City Construction Agency.”Infomining is an AI medical big data company that measures biometric signals in real time and provides disease prediction, diagnosis, and analysis through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Since its foundation in January   2019,  CEO Lee and other executives and employees have been running nonstop for more than three years.All   but eight of the 30 executives and employees are developers, so they are “all-in” on technology development. There are three AI teams and each has a software team and a hardware team.

The platform, which will be infomining’s representative application (app), automatically monitors body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and oxygen saturation through smartwatch-based  monitoring and analyzes it as an AI model. In addition, customized healthcare services are provided to support detailed situation management   and  non-face-to-face treatment through self-diagnosis.Hardware is also under development. The ‘Medi Watch’, which is a smartwatch   type, has already been developed. This game has already been carried out more than 70% for medical device certification approval in Korea, and clinical trials are underway.It   has already been verified to be suitable for efficiency of more than 95%, and specific inquiries  about  license use or device use are being received in the United States and Japan.

CEO Lee said, “In the second half of this year, we will release the first batch of biomarker (indicators that can detect changes in the body using DNA and metabolites) using MediWatch,” and added, “We will provide cloud-based services so that medical institutions and local governments can easily introduce them.”The   technology that  is of particular interest from the outside is ‘pre-questioning’. Pre-examination is a service that  provides medical staff with age, gender, symptoms, social skills such as alcohol and tobacco, family history, and past history of patients before telemedicine or visiting treatment. It enables more effective treatment in a short treatment time represented by ‘three-minute treatment’.It i s on the verge of a contract with a U.S. telemedicine healthcare company to export pre-questioning   technology. It is also looking forward  to exporting  other technologies by collaborating with this company for technology application for the next five years.It is also discussing cooperation with large domestic companies to establish a non-face-to-face    treatment    platform  in Vietnam. Vietnam  is highly interested  in the care of cancer patients  discharged  from the hospital  after  surgery, so the “post-examination”   service will be mainly used rather than pre-examination.

Discussions are continuing, such as holding a meeting for the first time earlier this month.There is another project to proceed in Vietnam. This time, it is a proposal from Japan. Just a while ago, a large Japanese medical foundation  is planning  to install a general hospital in Vietnam by 2024, and a proposal was made to take charge of telemedicine system solutions in Infomining.CEO  Lee said, “There have been various discussions with large companies, but there have been many times when it has not happened,” adding, “Various proposals are good, but we try to be careful until we sign a formal contract.”CEO   Lee plans to visit the U.S. at the invitation of a company that will sign a technology export contract between July and August. It is the first overseas business trip since COVID-19. “Until now, sales have been low until last year because of R&D, but this year, it is expected to grow more than 10 times compared to the previous year and grow rapidly in the future,” he said.Already,  the healthcare market is a field that has achieved continuous interest and development by combining medical care and IT worldwide.After   Pandemic, investment and R&D in collective healthcare are more active, so the role of infomining.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

KILSUNG CHOI

Asia Journal

For more than a decade, Japan has carried out numerous overseas projects to advance Japanese medical care overseas, fostered medical talent, and dispatched large-scale public-private support groups. Compared to Japan’s large investment in manpower, money, and time, most of its overseas projects have ended in nothing, and it is true that they have faced medical barriers from overseas countries. In some cases, overseas projects have succeeded and produced meaningful results, and Olympus and Kitahara International Hospital are representative. Olympus opened an endoscopic medical center at the National Cipto Hospital in Indonesia (September 2014) in collaboration with the Japanese Society for Gastroenterology, and achieved results as a talent development package strategy to guide Indonesian doctors. Kitahara International Hospital opened a life aid center (50 beds, neurosurgery, orthopedics, etc.) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which was funded by JGC HOLDINGS and INCJ (Innovation Network Corporation of Japan) and founded with a loan by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).

With Japan making numerous efforts, starting with the outbreak of COVID-19, Japanese medical institutions and medical devices will also focus on stable growth while doing domestic business due to a decrease in motivation for overseas expansion, a lack of budget, and a lack of resources.

For example, the LA Times Asia Journal was able to confirm by talking directly with about 20 Japanese medical institutions that had previously conducted overseas projects, most of which focused on domestic patient care and were not interested in overseas expansion or medical-linked projects. Among them, it was confirmed that three Japanese medical institutions were interested in medical-linked projects with overseas companies.

The first is Kitahara International Hospital, which has been commissioned by Vietnam to build a Japanese-style hospital for 2024, in addition to the Life and Emergency Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When LA Times Asia Journal introduced them to Infoming, a Korean company, the hospital’s planning director was worried about the lack of accuracy of bio-signals, even though he tried demonstration of smart watch products from various countries. In the end, it can be seen that they are also considering the connection of overseas companies for patient bio-signal management in overseas hospital construction and operation management, and that it is a proof that not only provides medical but also puts less resources into preventive management. (For your information, Infomining is a company that developed a solution that analyzes the biological signals of ECG, blood pressure, blood sugar, oxygen saturation, pulse, and body temperature in AI servers and informs the results of medical device-level accuracy on smartphone and doctor’s PC screens.)

The second is Inoue Hospital, which is affiliated with social medical corporation Shunkaikai (Nagasaki-Ken, Nagasaki-City, seven hospitals), and when LA Times Asia Journal introduced them to Infoming, the hospital director said they had the function they wanted. However, since they are conducting a personal health record (PHR) monitoring project that has completed the introduction, it has been concluded that it is impossible to review the introduction due to budget problems at this point. In the end, it is interested in medical-linked businesses with overseas companies, but it can be seen that it is focusing on stable growth of domestic businesses due to decreased motivation due to failure to advance overseas, lack of resources due to COVID-19 outbreak, and lack of budget.

The third is Kaikoukai (Aichi-Ken, Nagoya-City, 43 hospitals), a Los Angeles Times Asia Journal introduced them to Infomining, a Korean company, and the managing director of the corporate headquarters recommended it to the CEO and sales manager of Inocheer (Medical materials, Medical device sales company), a subsidiary of the group. They expressed their wish that they would not spend a lot of time developing software to meet customer requirements every time they sell it, but that they could import it and sell it easily with simple settings. It can be seen that this focuses on the stable growth of domestic businesses through medical-linked projects with overseas companies after a long difficult period. In addition, even though it is a medical device vendor, it is not a treatment-oriented business, but rather a preventive management-oriented business with less resource input for patients’ healthcare.

MIKE CHOI
ASIA JOURNAL

Cathie Wood, CEO of Arc Investment, bought an additional $20 million worth of shares in telemedicine company “Teladoc.” Teladoc’s stock price fell 40% in a day, but he rather started to buy a low point, saying, “Investors are not aware of the true value.”

CNBC reported on the 2nd that Arc Investment purchased an additional 386,712 shares of Teladoc through the “Arc Innovation Exchange Traded Fund” on the 28th. On this day, Teladoc’s stock price plunged 40.15% from the previous day to $33.51.

According to CNBC, Arc Investment bought about 610,000 shares of Teladoc from four funds, including Arc Innovation ETF. The total purchase amount is estimated to be about $20.4 million based on the closing price of the day.

Teladoc’s stock price plunged as it announced its sluggish first-quarter earnings. Sales rose 25 percent year-on-year to $565.4 million in the first quarter, but fell below the stock market’s estimate of $569 million. It also lowered its sales forecast for this year from $2.65 billion to $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion.

This is because the company’s net profit was expected to surge as telemedicine increased due to the COVID-19 crisis, but its net profit decreased due to intensifying competition. Stock prices of other telemedicine companies also plunged at the same time.However, CEO Wood claimed that Teladoc was undervalued, saying, “Investors are missing shares equivalent to Amazon.”

In an interview with CNBC on the 29th, he said, “Although we had to lower our forecasts due to a drop in short-term sales, Teladoc could become a ‘category killer’ in the healthcare sector for the next 5 to 10 years.” Taking Teladoc’s recent collaboration with Northwell Health, the largest medical institution in New York, as an example, Teladoc’s B2B business will grow further in the future.Arc Investment is the largest shareholder with a 12.14% stake in Teladoc.

As Teladoc stock prices plunge, the return on funds is also on the decline. Arc Innovation ETF closed at $47.13 on the 29th, down 3.56%. Compared to February 12th of last year (156.58 dollars), it plunged 69.90%.

Among them, there is a company that customizes a solution that combines artificial intelligence of Korean infomining (CEO : Jae-yong Lee). The company is already planning to supply watch-type devices and diagnostic management solutions by signing a solution contract at Yonsei University Severance Hospital, a university hospital of Korea’s leading medical institution.          In addition, it has signed an NDA with ITBook, a Japanese healthcare company, and is conducting initial sample test transactions. Of course, looking at start-up venture companies making transactions and signing contracts to do business beyond their interest in Korea, Japan, and the United States, they clearly know that their advanced technology and development capabilities are great. In addition, the currently developed smartwatch-type devices are also devoted to medical device licensing, and primary investment was received in this process.Although it is a domestic investment in Korea, investors seem to have great interest and high expectations for their development.

▲ INFOMINING CO., LTD.

▲ CEO : Jae-yong Lee

▲ http://infomining.co.kr

▲ worldconsult@infomining.co.kr

▲ +82-70-4914-2970

SAM KIM

ASIA JOURNAL

Healthcare Trend is changing from Medical to Healthcare. Trend is changing from supplier-centered to consumer-centered, from treatment-centered to prevention management-centered.

Recently, medical companies under hospitals, medical foundations, and general trading companies in Japan have also changed their overseas expansion, and I will introduce specific changes to those companies. (In particular, while telemedicine services are attracting attention due to the recent spread of COVID-19, the medical, digital, and mobility industries are working to develop healthcare mobility services that have upgraded existing telemedicine services to the next level.)

Japanese medical institutions support early stabilization of inpatients and return to society by promoting ‘smart hospital’ in cooperation with digital companies to strengthen predictability and accuracy. (Smart Hospital: It refers to a hospital operated by a fully automatic system that identifies and treats patients’ conditions using AI and IoT.) Since 2017, NEC, a large Japanese company, has been working with KNI Medical Group (Kitahara International Hospital Group) to develop a system to detect inpatients’ anxiety behavior or risk of misleading pneumonia. They analyzed electronic medical record information and vital data with AI and detected 71% accuracy about 40 minutes before inpatients’ insecurity behavior, enabling preemptive response by medical staff. As a result of KNI’s AI analysis, about 34% of elderly inpatients showed anxiety behavior, and in this case, discharge was extended by about 19 days compared to ordinary patients. In addition, they determined 87% accuracy of high-risk patients with misleading pneumonia, which frequently occurs in elderly or stroke inpatients, and nurses were able to focus on preventive management from the beginning of hospitalization. As a result of KNI’s analysis, misleading pneumonia occurs in about 10% of inpatients, and 70% of inpatients lead to long-term hospitalization for more than 1 month. In addition, they developed a system that analyzes nurse’s voice input data with AI, labels them based on nursing knowledge, and automatically classifies and stores them. As a result, 58% of the nursing record work (one hour per day per nurse) was reduced, and the effect of replacing the face-to-face handover work (30 minutes) was obtained. In addition, Japan’s Kitahara International Hospital focuses on treatment of chronic diseases centered on diabetes and rehabilitation, and has entered China to provide healthcare services. They offer low-sugar menus in hospital restaurants, along with healthy food ingredients, food, and healthcare products.

Japanese general trading companies, which focused on resource projects, are discovering and expanding healthcare businesses. In the past, bio-investment by large companies began in the 1980s, but technology limitations and markets were immature, and in the 1990s, starting with the detoxification of the human genome, they were activated as universities, research institutes, and ventures, but profits were low even after 10 years. In the 2000s, due to the breakthrough in biotechnology and the government’s deregulation of regenerated drugs, approval of drugs was also made easier. Japanese general trading companies have experienced the risks of resource businesses that rely on the market, and since then, they have found their main profitable businesses in bio-healthcare, a non-resource business.

Mitsubishi Corporation, a leading general trading company in Japan, directly participated in the operation of Tokyo Komagome Hospital until 2028 as a PFI business. Komagome Provincial Hospital (800 beds) is a hospital that had strengths in cancer and infectious diseases among Tokyo Provincial Hospitals, and Mitsubishi Corporation participated in the bidding for 186 billion yen, including a large remodeling of the hospital, securing the right to operate the hospital for 20 years from 2008. Japan promoted the PFI (Development of social capital by utilizing private funds) project for the purpose of improving the management of local hospitals, and in addition to design companies, construction companies, and IT companies, ASO groups operating large-scale hospitals in Fukuoka participated in the Komagome hospital project.

Mitsubishi Corporation has also entered the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector by taking advantage of the strengths of general trading companies in addition to hospitals and medical devices. Mitsubishi Corporation, along with Fuji Film, established FDBK and FDBT, biopharmaceutical joint ventures in the UK and the United States, respectively. Originally, Fuji Film acquired a biopharmaceutical CMO company from Merck in the U.S. in June 2011, and transferred shares to utilize Mitsubishi Corporation’s business experience in the bio sector. (Fuji Film makes up 80% of shares and Mitsubishi Corporation makes up 20% of shares.)

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Corporation established the Bio Business Development Department in April 2000 when Bio Medical was selected as a new business area in its mid-term management plan. Currently, it is the healthcare department under the Life and Distribution Headquarters and is in charge of domestic and Asian businesses. (Headquarters for Living Distribution includes the Food Distribution Department, Paper and Packaging Department, Healthcare Department, and Asia Healthcare Business Development Office.)

A key subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation’s bio-health business is ‘MC Healthcare’, a business outsourcing and medical material distribution company of hospitals under the Ministry of Healthcare.

MC Healthcare is a company founded in April 2010 by integrating three companies : Hospital Service (established in 1995; supply of medical equipment), Apprecia (established in 2001, procurement and repair services of medical devices) and MC Medical (established in 1989; import and sale of medical devices). They achieved Japan’s largest sales of about 243 billion yen in 2017 by aggregating the functions of the three companies, including the JIT system of salespeople, to respond to the advanced demands of medical institutions. In April 2019, MC Healthcare consolidated its three food-related subsidiaries to seek further business diversification. (Three food-related subsidiaries: MC Food Specialties Inc. (Manufacture and export/import, sale of sweeteners, condiments, confectionery and baking ingredients), MC Foodtech Co., Ltd. (Manufacturing and selling glucose, fruit products, marine products, additives), KOHJIN Life Sciences Co., Ltd. (Manufacture and sale of yeast, food, feed, fertilizer, and medicines)

Mitsubishi Corporation established Good Life Design in 2002 in collaboration with TOYOTA Motors, and started Aichi-Ken’s local healthcare business. Good Life Design supports management improvement and mutual linkage of local medical institutions as an outsourcing project. In addition, it is a company that provides healthcare products and services to patients and local residents, and consists of 51% of TOYOTA Motors and 49% of Mitsubishi Corporation. Medical services for patients are handled by local base hospitals, and Good Life Design provides testing agencies, IT work support, joint purchase of medicines for local hospitals and pharmacies, and nursing facilities for discharged patients, rental and sales of care products, and renovation of homes for the elderly.

The Japanese pharmaceutical industry is pushing for the development of digital treatments, breaking away from the simple business model of selling drugs to medical institutions. (Digital Therapy: Advanced software medical devices that provide therapeutic intervention to patients to prevent, manage, and treat diseases or disorders. Mobile applications, games, virtual reality, chatbots, artificial intelligence, etc.) Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has developed a digital pill for the treatment of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder, and it has a built-in special sensor that responds to stomach acid, allowing users to identify medication information and dosage patterns through wearable devices and mobile apps. Eisai Co., Ltd. is developing a preventive medical app by analyzing data accumulated as dementia treatment drugs with AI. SHIONOGI & CO., LTD. is developing a video game for treating childhood ADHD (AKL-T01) and a video game for treating autism spectrum disorder (AKL-T02). Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is developing medical devices to treat digestive problems.

Japanese startups are leading the way, developing telemedicine systems and providing mobile-based services to improve user convenience. Japan’s Nipro began selling “NIPRO Heart Line” in 2018, and remote doctors diagnose mild COVID-19 infections in self-isolation, and hospitals (which can monitor body temperature and blood oxygen concentration data) provide online prescriptions to pharmacies. Japan’s Medley operates an app that enables Second Opinion consultation with 18 medical professionals at Tokyo University Hospital through the “CLINICS” online platform, and is affiliated with about 800 medical institutions nationwide.

Focusing on large Japanese companies, it is promoting ‘healthcare mobility service’ that combines telemedicine and next-generation mobility service (MaaS). (MaaS (Mobility as a Service): A service that combines the operation information of various means of transportation, such as railways, buses, and taxis, and suggests an optimal route for users.) Toyota Motor Corporation and SoftBank Group Corp. established MONET Technologies in February 2019 to provide various mobility-linked services such as logistics, medical care, and finance in cooperation with companies and local governments to promote the MaaS business. Philips Japan is working with MONET Technologies to promote “delivery of healthcare” through a “mobile clinic” service that has upgraded telemedicine services to the next level. (Philips Japan is a healthcare total solution company that sells products and services for each process of healthcare such as prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and home care for a healthy life.) In December 2019, Philips Japan tested the commercial Van (9seats) called HiAce of TOYOTA in Nagano-Ken, Ina-City, equipped with a monitor capable of remote diagnosis, a vital data meter such as blood pressure, body temperature, weight, and blood sugar, and an automatic heart shock device (AED). The “mobile clinic” provides remote and face-to-face treatment services regardless of physical location by moving mobility to where patients want it. It is a system in which a nurse visits a patient with a healthcare facility, a doctor in a hospital treats the patient through a video call, and then the nurse examines and prescribes the patient under the doctor’s direction. This is what the ‘mobile clinic’ provides by synthesizing the three concepts of ‘remote treatment + home treatment + mobility’.

Large companies and startups are all speeding up the development of AI image diagnosis technology to respond to healthcare services. NTT Data demonstrated an AI image diagnosis system developed by the University of Miyazaki in 700 patients, and measured the accuracy of detecting gastrointestinal abnormalities, showing 90% accuracy in cancer diagnosis. In October 2019, it began developing an algorithm that identifies the disease name from abnormalities found by the AI image diagnosis system, and in 2020, it verified to what extent the system could reduce the burden on doctors in actual diagnostic tasks. Hitachi’s U.S. subsidiary Hitachi Consulting has signed a partnership contract with the British medical group Northern Care Alliance to realize Digital Transformation. By introducing data analysis and IoT technology for Salford Royal Hospital under Hitachi, it is seeking countermeasures to flexibly deploy beds, operating rooms, and medical devices to patients and reduce waiting time. There are also many R&D startups such as lpixel in the field of image diagnosis, and lpixel, a venture company at the University of Tokyo, developed an image diagnosis support procedure using artificial intelligence and recently unveiled a cloud-type image analysis platform called ‘IMACEL’.

Fitness Center provides healthcare services such as health data measurement and health counseling due to high customer accessibility. RIZAP Group (the No. 1 company in sales at Japan’s Fitness Center) was originally centered on diet and beauty businesses, but recently, in partnership with 183 medical institutions nationwide, doctors have started health care services (rehab and dementia prevention, depression treatment, etc.) RENAISSANCE (the fourth-largest company in Japan’s Fitness Center sales) is promoting a healthcare project for senior citizens aged 60 or older to prevent cognitive decline such as exercise guidance, meal and sleep support. In addition, Renaissance established a joint venture in Vietnam and a subsidiary operating the fitness center and swimming school. In cooperation with their own design know-how and Japanese construction companies, they reorganize the swimming pool and open a Japanese-style swimming class to conduct swimming method training and water quality management consulting projects. In addition, it sought to enter Vietnam through a step-by-step approach such as sports center construction and operation of sports centers. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Japanese companies’ healthcare services had melted into Vietnam, with more than 1,000 visitors a day despite the same high price as Japan. The Japanese food industry is releasing healthy foods such as sugar-restricted foods and menus, and selling various types of health supplements. (Sugar-restricted diet is a diet that consumes less sugar and lowers blood sugar with a diet focused on fat and protein. It has a weight-loss effect and consequently inhibits the possibility of diabetes.) Convenience store company FamilyMart has launched low-sugar foods in cooperation with sports center group RIZAP, and LAWSON has introduced low-sugar confectionery, lunch boxes, and noodles. Originally started as a medical device manufacturer that made Japan’s first scale and the world’s first body fat scale, TANITA expanded its business to the restaurant industry as a health food restaurant that provides healthcare services. TANITA expanded from the concept of measuring weight and body fat to the concept of measuring health, and it became famous throughout Japan when it provided healthy menus to employee restaurants with the aim of taking care of employees’ health first. Since then, it has published a recipe book and opened the restaurant “Marunouchi Tanita Shokudo” for the general public. It conducted free health counseling and events based on restaurants expanded nationwide, and developed a lifestyle coaching app to prevent diseases.

As such, Japanese companies are promoting links between different industries with the goal of realizing innovations that strengthen ‘convenience’, ‘accuracy’, and ‘accessibility’ of healthcare. Not only Japanese domestic companies, but also companies from neighboring Asian countries and companies from all over the world are expected to be linked in more detail to these Japanese innovations, namely, these TRENDs.

MIKE CHOI

ASIA JOURNAL