Looking into the Eye Reveals Heart Disease... Mediwhale's 'Doctor Eye' Designated as New Medical Technology Evaluation Target

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Mediwhale announced on the 2nd that its retinal-based cardiovascular disease prediction artificial intelligence (AI) medical device, 'DrNoon for CVD,' has been selected as a new medical technology evaluation target by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA). This comes just over three months after receiving product approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in August.

The company stated, "HIRA recognized cardiovascular risk assessment through DrNoon as a new medical practice, acknowledging the need for separate compensation," and added, "We expect the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (NECA) to grant advanced entry medical technology status (postponement of new medical technology evaluation) in January next year, along with the assignment of a health insurance fee code."

DrNoon completes the entire process?from fundus photography → automatic AI analysis → cardiovascular disease diagnosis result confirmation?in about one minute. It enables prediction of heart disease occurrence for visiting patients even at clinics without expensive equipment like computed tomography (CT). Patients can receive heart disease risk predictions within one minute without any discomfort such as fasting or exposure to radiation.

In October, Mediwhale was selected as a '2022 Bio Startup Accelerator' company by HeartX in Arkansas, USA, and decided to participate clinically with DrNoon (overseas product name 'Reti-CVD') at five cardiovascular specialty hospitals and large chain hospitals in Arkansas. Along with an investment benefit of $150,000 (approximately 200 million KRW), the company was granted exclusive access to the mentor network held by the state of Arkansas.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.