Dr. Diary, a healthcare startup based in South Korea, has accused Kakao Healthcare of allegedly copying its blood glucose management service with its new diabetes business model, "Gamma."
However, Kakao Healthcare, a healthcare unit of Korean IT giant Kakao, has called the allegations groundless.
According to local news outlets, Dr. Diary CEO Song Jae-yoon said Kakao’s blood glucose management solution business announced in March was “almost similar” to the solution and business model Dr. Diary has been developing for seven years.
The platform enables users to record their health data, including blood sugar levels, which is then analyzed using AI to provide statistics on data changes. Users can also form a community and share information with each other.
Kakao Healthcare's Gamma platform also utilizes AI technology to analyze users' blood sugar levels and life logs to offer personalized insights into maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Kakao’s Gamma also has a community function that allows users to communicate.
Dr. Diary stressed both companies' application is similar in nature as they are both digital healthcare platform for users who need blood sugar management such as diabetes, provides data log analysis solutions using AI, forms communities, and are either providing or have plans to expand to chronic metabolic diseases such as hypertension.
‘Kakao’s model completely different from Dr. Diary’
Kakao Healthcare said that there were clear distinctions between Gamma and Dr. Diary.
"Although there are similarities in terms of blood sugar management platforms, our service is to provide differentiated benefits based on CGM (continuous glucose monitor)," a Kakao Healthcare official told Korea Biomedical Review. "The difference is that Dr. Diary is a platform based on BGM (blood glucose monitoring), which is a device that patients have to do by hand."
The official stressed that CGM has recently emerged as a game changer in the healthcare industry, and services of various shapes and purposes that use CGM data are already being prepared or have been launched globally.
Kakao Healthcare said it planned to introduce mobile-based digital healthcare services targeting chronic diseases such as diabetes from the beginning of its establishment.
It also aims to provide differentiated benefits to customers and compete with global players based on cooperation with CGM device manufacturers and the company's AI technology, the official added.
Dr. Diary claimed that it was in contact with Kakao Brain and Kakao Investment, which were in charge of Kakao's healthcare business until 2021, before the establishment of Kakao Healthcare.
Dr. Diary held a corporate presentation in 2020 following an investment proposal from Kakao Investment and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kakao Brain the following year for a joint business proposal.
The company argued that the IR materials submitted to Kakao at the time also included information about CGM, which Kakao now claims as a differentiator.
Kakao Healthcare refuted the claims of contact with group affiliates.
"Kakao subsidiaries operate independently and do not share information acquired from other companies within the group network," the company official said.
Notably, the official stressed that it is difficult to judge similarities based on the concept of a service that has not yet been launched.
"We have yet to launch a service, and we announced the concept only," the Kakao official said. "However, as there are currently so many services related to CGM and the technology in the field is rapidly changing, even the company will have to wait until the product is actually launched to confirm the details of the platform."