CEO Lee Chi-won
The medical market has been expanding and evolving at a rapid pace each year. The global medical device market, in particular, has shown steady growth at an average annual rate of approximately 4.5% since 2010, and this trend is expected to continue as long as interest in healthy living and disease treatment remains strong. As a result, a wide range of advanced technologies and medical devices that integrate these technologies continue to emerge, contributing to the steady improvement of overall medical standards worldwide.
In the case of the domestic medical market, alongside the outstanding capabilities of medical professionals who are recognized even overseas, Korea is accelerating its global expansion by launching a variety of medical devices and exporting them abroad, thereby focusing on expanding its influence in the global market. However, in the domestic flexible endoscopy market, products from foreign countries still dominate, leading to ongoing dissatisfaction among many Korean medical professionals.
Against this backdrop, MedInTech has been concentrating on research and development with a strong sense of mission, aiming to establish domestically developed flexible endoscopes in the Korean hospital market, which has long relied on foreign-made endoscopes. We met with MedInTech CEO Lee Chi-won to hear more about the company’s story.
CEO Lee Chi-won, MedInTech
Please introduce your company.
MedInTech is a company founded on the core flexible endoscopy technologies developed by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), with the goal of commercializing flexible endoscopes for gastrointestinal applications. The company has developed the world’s first motorized flexible gastrointestinal endoscope, and by providing a system that offers convenience for physicians and a high level of safety for patients, it aims to support Korea’s gastrointestinal endoscopy practice, which is recognized as being at a world-class level but currently relies entirely on foreign-made endoscopes. In addition, MedInTech is working to become a company that can change the paradigm of diagnosis and treatment in internal medicine by integrating various AI-based software features that enhance usability.
At present, the procedural skills and diagnostic interpretation capabilities of Korean medical professionals are evaluated as being extremely high on a global scale. However, most of the medical devices used by these highly skilled professionals are foreign-made, which revealed inherent limitations in adequately supporting domestic clinicians. Although medical professionals wish to use products that reflect better ideas, it has been difficult to incorporate the requirements of Korean clinicians due to the fact that these products are developed overseas. MedInTech was founded to resolve this issue.
As core technologies to address this challenge, the company identified motorization and artificial intelligence, and with the aim of developing medical devices that are beneficial for both patients and physicians, it began its business in earnest by first developing endoscopic devices.
Please explain your core business.
MedInTech has secured fundamental technologies for the three core components of medical flexible endoscopes: the endoscope scope, the endoscopic image processing unit, and the endoscopic light source unit. In addition, the company possesses differentiated technologies, including motorization of the endoscope scope, as well as AI technologies that reduce physician fatigue, improve diagnostic interpretation capabilities, and provide enhanced procedural safety for patients.
With conventional endoscopes, when the endoscope enters the body, changes in direction are required, and these directional controls must be performed manually by physicians using their left thumb. As a result, there has been a chronic issue in which the handle is heavy, leading to a high incidence of musculoskeletal occupational disorders in the left hands of many medical professionals. To address this problem, MedInTech developed a motorized scope, successfully reducing the weight of the endoscope handle held in the hand by half while enabling more precise movement.
Furthermore, the misdiagnosis rate that occurs depending on the diagnostic interpretation ability and endoscopic technique of medical professionals is said to reach approximately 30%. This can be attributed not only to physician fatigue but also to degradation in endoscopic image quality. To address this, MedInTech’s product goes beyond the HD image quality of conventional endoscopes and provides FHD image quality, thereby helping to enable clearer and more accurate interpretation.
In addition, artificial intelligence algorithms currently being adopted by many institutions play a role in assisting areas where lesion interpretation may be inadequate due to lack of experience or clinical environmental factors. MedInTech has developed a software algorithm—an “AI algorithm for automatic lesion detection in the stomach and colon”—that automatically detects lesions such as polyps, and has obtained medical device approval for this technology. Based on a high accuracy rate of over 90%, this technology significantly reduces the aforementioned misdiagnosis rate and serves as a core technology that will enable automation of endoscopic examinations and treatments in the future.
In this way, MedInTech’s endoscope reduces physician fatigue and supports procedural performance, thereby shortening the endoscopic examination time required per patient and enabling more patients to be examined safely within the same time frame. Moreover, as the market is currently dominated by companies from specific countries, device prices are high; MedInTech alleviates the financial burden on hospitals and medical professionals by offering its products at reasonable prices. With these various strengths, the company plans to introduce its products in earnest in the near future.
What are your future goals and direction?
Endoscopes can be broadly divided into flexible endoscopes and rigid endoscopes. Flexible endoscopes are commonly used in gastroenterology, urology, and otolaryngology, while rigid endoscopes are used for surgical procedures such as laparoscopy. MedInTech has focused on the development of flexible endoscopes, and among them, it first developed gastrointestinal endoscopes, which have the largest market, are most widely used, and are technically the most challenging.
After successfully introducing these products to the medical device market, the company plans to expand its pipeline into various medical specialties that utilize flexible endoscopes, including the development of endoscopes for otolaryngology and urology. Furthermore, MedInTech believes that success in the domestic market leads directly to success in overseas markets, and therefore seeks to establish reliability through various clinical trials conducted in Korea.
The company is also preparing for overseas expansion by pursuing medical device regulatory approvals such as FDA and CE certification, and based on these approvals, plans to expand into North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In the future, MedInTech aims to further expand its scope into natural orifice surgical robots that encompass both rigid and flexible endoscopes.
Ultimately, MedInTech’s goal is to become a leading company that delivers high-quality medical services to more people by embedding the expertise of Korea’s top medical professionals into a wide range of medical devices. To achieve this, the company will drive technological growth with motorization and artificial intelligence as its core technologies. Just as laparoscopic surgery in the surgical field is transforming surgical paradigms through the motorization of surgical robots, MedInTech aims to transform the paradigm of diagnosis and treatment in internal medicine through the motorization of flexible endoscopes. Guided by a strong sense of mission to localize flexible endoscopes, the company will continue to devote itself to medical device research and development.
Choi Ji-min, Reporter
cjimin@newseconomy.kr
View the original article
경제인뉴스 - http://www.newseconomy.kr/news/view.php?no=5875
CEO Lee Chi-won
The medical market has been expanding and evolving at a rapid pace each year. The global medical device market, in particular, has shown steady growth at an average annual rate of approximately 4.5% since 2010, and this trend is expected to continue as long as interest in healthy living and disease treatment remains strong. As a result, a wide range of advanced technologies and medical devices that integrate these technologies continue to emerge, contributing to the steady improvement of overall medical standards worldwide.
In the case of the domestic medical market, alongside the outstanding capabilities of medical professionals who are recognized even overseas, Korea is accelerating its global expansion by launching a variety of medical devices and exporting them abroad, thereby focusing on expanding its influence in the global market. However, in the domestic flexible endoscopy market, products from foreign countries still dominate, leading to ongoing dissatisfaction among many Korean medical professionals.
Against this backdrop, MedInTech has been concentrating on research and development with a strong sense of mission, aiming to establish domestically developed flexible endoscopes in the Korean hospital market, which has long relied on foreign-made endoscopes. We met with MedInTech CEO Lee Chi-won to hear more about the company’s story.
CEO Lee Chi-won, MedInTech
Please introduce your company.
MedInTech is a company founded on the core flexible endoscopy technologies developed by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), with the goal of commercializing flexible endoscopes for gastrointestinal applications. The company has developed the world’s first motorized flexible gastrointestinal endoscope, and by providing a system that offers convenience for physicians and a high level of safety for patients, it aims to support Korea’s gastrointestinal endoscopy practice, which is recognized as being at a world-class level but currently relies entirely on foreign-made endoscopes. In addition, MedInTech is working to become a company that can change the paradigm of diagnosis and treatment in internal medicine by integrating various AI-based software features that enhance usability.
At present, the procedural skills and diagnostic interpretation capabilities of Korean medical professionals are evaluated as being extremely high on a global scale. However, most of the medical devices used by these highly skilled professionals are foreign-made, which revealed inherent limitations in adequately supporting domestic clinicians. Although medical professionals wish to use products that reflect better ideas, it has been difficult to incorporate the requirements of Korean clinicians due to the fact that these products are developed overseas. MedInTech was founded to resolve this issue.
As core technologies to address this challenge, the company identified motorization and artificial intelligence, and with the aim of developing medical devices that are beneficial for both patients and physicians, it began its business in earnest by first developing endoscopic devices.
Please explain your core business.
MedInTech has secured fundamental technologies for the three core components of medical flexible endoscopes: the endoscope scope, the endoscopic image processing unit, and the endoscopic light source unit. In addition, the company possesses differentiated technologies, including motorization of the endoscope scope, as well as AI technologies that reduce physician fatigue, improve diagnostic interpretation capabilities, and provide enhanced procedural safety for patients.
With conventional endoscopes, when the endoscope enters the body, changes in direction are required, and these directional controls must be performed manually by physicians using their left thumb. As a result, there has been a chronic issue in which the handle is heavy, leading to a high incidence of musculoskeletal occupational disorders in the left hands of many medical professionals. To address this problem, MedInTech developed a motorized scope, successfully reducing the weight of the endoscope handle held in the hand by half while enabling more precise movement.
Furthermore, the misdiagnosis rate that occurs depending on the diagnostic interpretation ability and endoscopic technique of medical professionals is said to reach approximately 30%. This can be attributed not only to physician fatigue but also to degradation in endoscopic image quality. To address this, MedInTech’s product goes beyond the HD image quality of conventional endoscopes and provides FHD image quality, thereby helping to enable clearer and more accurate interpretation.
In addition, artificial intelligence algorithms currently being adopted by many institutions play a role in assisting areas where lesion interpretation may be inadequate due to lack of experience or clinical environmental factors. MedInTech has developed a software algorithm—an “AI algorithm for automatic lesion detection in the stomach and colon”—that automatically detects lesions such as polyps, and has obtained medical device approval for this technology. Based on a high accuracy rate of over 90%, this technology significantly reduces the aforementioned misdiagnosis rate and serves as a core technology that will enable automation of endoscopic examinations and treatments in the future.
In this way, MedInTech’s endoscope reduces physician fatigue and supports procedural performance, thereby shortening the endoscopic examination time required per patient and enabling more patients to be examined safely within the same time frame. Moreover, as the market is currently dominated by companies from specific countries, device prices are high; MedInTech alleviates the financial burden on hospitals and medical professionals by offering its products at reasonable prices. With these various strengths, the company plans to introduce its products in earnest in the near future.
What are your future goals and direction?
Endoscopes can be broadly divided into flexible endoscopes and rigid endoscopes. Flexible endoscopes are commonly used in gastroenterology, urology, and otolaryngology, while rigid endoscopes are used for surgical procedures such as laparoscopy. MedInTech has focused on the development of flexible endoscopes, and among them, it first developed gastrointestinal endoscopes, which have the largest market, are most widely used, and are technically the most challenging.
After successfully introducing these products to the medical device market, the company plans to expand its pipeline into various medical specialties that utilize flexible endoscopes, including the development of endoscopes for otolaryngology and urology. Furthermore, MedInTech believes that success in the domestic market leads directly to success in overseas markets, and therefore seeks to establish reliability through various clinical trials conducted in Korea.
The company is also preparing for overseas expansion by pursuing medical device regulatory approvals such as FDA and CE certification, and based on these approvals, plans to expand into North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In the future, MedInTech aims to further expand its scope into natural orifice surgical robots that encompass both rigid and flexible endoscopes.
Ultimately, MedInTech’s goal is to become a leading company that delivers high-quality medical services to more people by embedding the expertise of Korea’s top medical professionals into a wide range of medical devices. To achieve this, the company will drive technological growth with motorization and artificial intelligence as its core technologies. Just as laparoscopic surgery in the surgical field is transforming surgical paradigms through the motorization of surgical robots, MedInTech aims to transform the paradigm of diagnosis and treatment in internal medicine through the motorization of flexible endoscopes. Guided by a strong sense of mission to localize flexible endoscopes, the company will continue to devote itself to medical device research and development.
Choi Ji-min, Reporter
cjimin@newseconomy.kr
View the original article
경제인뉴스 - http://www.newseconomy.kr/news/view.php?no=5875