Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on Thursday that it signed a four-way agreement with the Korea Medical Institute (KMI), Seers, and Medical AI to supply artificial intelligence (AI)-based electrocardiography (ECG) solutions for public health screening programs. 

The four companies signed the contract for a period of one year, with the goal of launching the solution in January 2024.

Arrhythmia increases the risk of stroke by more than five times and has been difficult to diagnose because it is often asymptomatic and intermittent, but it is expected to be improved through the arrhythmia screening service using MobiCare.

In particular, Daewoong Pharmaceutical is in charge of supplying mobiCARE and AiTiA LVSD to eight of KMI’s examination centers nationwide and has already formed an internal task force to initiate the work. Seers, the provider of mobiCARE, a wearable ECG solution that can be monitored for nine consecutive days, will supply a specialized system customized for KMI that can test up to 800 or more people per day. 

Meanwhile, Medical AI, the developer of AiTiA LVSD, an AI software for ECG analysis, aims to complete the software preparations for the point of care (POC) service at all centers in October, starting with KMI Jeju Examination Center in late September.

KMI plans to further strengthen its smart healthcare environment through the KMI Intelligent Comprehensive Medical Check-Up System (KICS) to introduce a differentiated heart test solution. KMI has health screening centers in eight regions nationwide, including three in Seoul in Gwanghwamun, Yeouido, and Gangnam, and five in the regions of Suwon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju, and Jeju. At these centers, routine national health check-ups are conducted to enable early detection and prevention of diseases.

"The introduction of the AI-based ECG solution will be an opportunity to further improve the level of cardiac screening in the screening area and upgrade the system," said KMI Chairman Lee Sang-ho.

"This agreement with KMI will be a new paradigm in the field of arrhythmia and heart failure, which have been difficult to detect early due to the limitations of diagnostic methods," said Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Lee Chang-jae. "Together with Seers and Medical AI, we will do our best to provide KMI with more advanced screening solutions."