<Interview with Byeonghwan Lee, CEO of Skylabs>
"World-leading technology for collecting and analyzing cardiac disease biosignals"
2017 Bayer Grants4Apps Germany Final Winner
Remote diagnosis platform gaining attention with growth of telemedicine
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] "I believe that the technology for collecting, measuring, and analyzing biosignals in the field of heart disease holds a unique position even in the global market."
On the afternoon of the 12th, the pride in the voice of Lee Byung-hwan, CEO of Skylabs (photo), whom we met at the office located in Pangyo, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, was palpable. Founded in September 2015, Skylabs is now an 8-year-old digital healthcare startup. It has also been gaining attention in the industry for its ‘CART-1,’ which can monitor heart disease 24 hours a day.
CART-1 features the use of an optical sensor worn in the form of a ring to measure heart signals, enabling continuous monitoring of diseases that are difficult to detect in advance, such as atrial fibrillation. The data measured in this way can be checked by users themselves through a smartphone application (app), transmitted to the cloud for analysis by artificial intelligence (AI), and then processed into data that medical professionals can review. Recently, they released ‘CART-1 Plus’ by adding an oxygen saturation measurement function. The greatest advantage of CART-1 is that it automatically measures heart signals simply by the user wearing it. CEO Lee explained, "The characteristic is that data is collected without user operation, and this is combined with AI to show high accuracy and usefulness."
However, CEO Lee emphasized that Skylabs is not just a medical device manufacturer. For example, patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes rarely stay hospitalized. Most manage their conditions while living daily lives, but symptoms can suddenly worsen. Building a platform that can continuously monitor and manage patients’ conditions outside the hospital is important. He stated, "It is a big misconception to see Skylabs as just a ring-type device manufacturer. Our goal is to create a platform that enables treatment for chronic disease patients and to suggest practical disease diagnosis and improvement directions based on data."
There is an indispensable foundation behind Skylabs’ growth to its current state. In 2017, they won the final round of ‘Grants4Apps (G4A),’ an open innovation program run by Bayer, a global pharmaceutical company in Germany, securing an investment of 50,000 euros (about 67 million KRW) from Bayer headquarters. The demand for Bayer, a global leader in cardiovascular therapeutics, and Skylabs’ technology for monitoring atrial fibrillation aligned perfectly. CEO Lee said, "Bayer’s representative product is an anticoagulant needed by atrial fibrillation patients, so the collaboration points matched well." Recently, they also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kakao Healthcare and decided to continue their cooperative relationship. It is expected that the synergy between Kakao Healthcare’s mobile healthcare platform and Skylabs’ AI diagnostic and monitoring technology will be significant.
With the rapid growth of non-face-to-face medical care recently, Skylabs’ remote monitoring technology and platform are also gaining more attention. However, it is also true that current policies in Korea do not properly keep pace with industrial development. CEO Lee pointed out, "Chronic diseases are difficult to judge based on temporary results alone, so it is important to continuously collect patient data," but added, "Remote monitoring is common abroad, but in Korea, there is no fee for remote monitoring, so medical staff cannot take action." He continued, "It is necessary to solve these problems to provide remote monitoring to those who need it and find medical efficacy."
Skylabs is actively advancing into the United States, the world’s largest digital healthcare market. CEO Lee said, "We are preparing a pipeline for various chronic diseases, not just specific diseases, and are proceeding with approval procedures," adding, "Skylabs’ goal is to have value as a single platform."
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