Predicting Heart Disease with Eyes... Mediwhale's 'Dr. Noon' Wins CES Innovation Award

Mediwhale announced on the 17th that its cardiovascular risk assessment software medical device (SaMD), "Leti-CVD" (domestic name: Doctor Noon), won the Innovation Award at CES 2023. (Photo by Mediwhale)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Mediwhale announced on the 17th that its artificial intelligence (AI) cardiovascular risk assessment software medical device, 'Reti-CVD,' which predicts cardiovascular disease occurrence through retinal scans, has won the ‘CES 2023’ Innovation Award.

CES 2023, held in Las Vegas, USA, in January next year, is considered the world's largest technology event. It is organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and expert judges in various fields select outstanding innovative products from 28 technology categories to award the Innovation Award. Reti-CVD was selected for its high evaluation in innovation, engineering and functionality, and design in the digital health sector.

Reti-CVD was highly praised as the first solution to autonomously diagnose cardiovascular disease risk using retinal images. It also demonstrated that the deep learning data combining retinal images of Korean patients and cardiac computed tomography (CT) scans have equivalent validity to data from over 60,000 patients overseas. Compared to CT, which has disadvantages such as radiation exposure risk and high cost, Reti-CVD is evaluated to have secured convenience by providing results within one minute at nearby primary care institutions at a low cost.

In the engineering and functionality category, Reti-CVD was recognized for its ability to capture the patient’s retina with a fundus camera and immediately analyze the image through image analysis and deep learning technology to predict cardiovascular disease risk with the same accuracy as a CT scan, and in the design category, for being usable without special training, integrating with existing systems and all types of fundus cameras, automatically transmitting retinal images from the camera to Reti-CVD without additional uploads, and allowing access to the cloud-based system and report printing without software installation.

Mediwhale logo (Photo by Mediwhale)

Choi Taegun, CEO of Mediwhale, said, “We are pleased that Reti-CVD has been recognized by both doctors and general consumers,” adding, “We are delighted to receive the CES Innovation Award following its major citation as an innovative technology transforming clinical cardiology practice in the European Heart Journal.”

Reti-CVD (domestically named Dr. Noon) received medical device approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea last August and was designated as a new medical technology by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on the 2nd of this month. The company plans to enter the market next year by obtaining a health insurance reimbursement code after the Korean Health Technology Assessment (NECA) grants advanced entry medical technology status with a grace period for new medical technology evaluation.

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