JLK, the first listed company in medical artificial intelligence (AI), is showing strong performance. The news that it has become the first in Korea to successfully prove the clinical performance of its brain perfusion imaging diagnostic AI solution in medical settings appears to be influencing its stock price.
As of 9:47 a.m. on the 17th, JLK was trading at 14,260 KRW, up 1,500 KRW (11.76%) from the previous trading day.
On the 15th, JLK succeeded in proving the clinical performance of its brain perfusion imaging diagnostic AI solution in medical settings through a comparative study of CT perfusion (CTP) AI solution performance published in the international medical journal Frontiers.
CTP is an essential test for deciding on cerebral infarction procedures among stroke patients, of whom more than 15 million occur worldwide annually. It is crucial for visualizing brain injury areas and quantitative volume analysis, and is known to have played a decisive role in extending the golden time for cerebral infarction patients to 24 hours after symptom onset.
Until now, CTP AI analysis technology relied on proprietary solutions developed by American companies, but with JLK’s clinical performance validation of its JLK-CTP, a significant turning point has been reached.
Professor Jurjuchu of Augusta University in the United States, who reviewed the paper, praised, “The JLK-CTP brain perfusion imaging solution developed purely with Korean technology will play an important role in saving the lives of cerebral infarction patients in medical institutions worldwide.”
Led by Professor Kim Beom-jun of the Department of Neurology at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital, this study evaluated the precision and concordance of JLK’s JLK-CTP AI diagnostic solution against the AI diagnostic solution from the American company Rapid AI, targeting 327 ischemic stroke patients who underwent CTP within 24 hours of onset.
According to the paper, in measuring cerebral infarction volume, the JLK-CTP solution showed very high precision and concordance compared to the MRI-based cerebral infarction volume (ischemic core), which is considered the gold standard. It also demonstrated superior performance by more accurately predicting the core volume of cerebral infarction compared to the American Rapid AI solution.
JLK CEO Kim Dong-min said, “It is encouraging that our CTP AI solution has proven superior performance compared to the competitor Rapid AI solution in AI diagnosis using perfusion imaging within 24 hours. We will advance CT perfusion image analysis and secure a competitive edge against the global top three stroke AI companies, including the U.S. Rapid AI and Viz AI, alongside JLK.”
Viz AI, Rapid AI, and JLK, headquartered in Israel and Korea respectively, are considered the three major stroke AI companies. Viz AI supplies CT-based hemorrhage and large vessel occlusion solutions to 800 hospitals across the U.S. In the U.S., Viz AI’s solution is reimbursed at $1,040 (approximately 1.4 million KRW) per case, achieving sales of 111.6 billion KRW in 2022. The company has significantly expanded its business scale by partnering with at least 1,500 hospitals, raising its corporate value to several trillion KRW. Rapid AI provides similar CT-based stroke AI solutions, automatically detecting and analyzing intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and other brain scan types with AI, delivering data to medical staff, and achieved approximately 60 billion KRW in sales in 2023. Its corporate value currently exceeds several trillion KRW.
Earlier this year, at a press conference held at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul, CEO Kim Dong-min stated, “Stroke occurs globally every 3 seconds. It ranks third in mortality after ischemic heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, but the global market size is the largest at 53 trillion KRW.” He added, “Starting this year, we will actively enter the U.S. market to increase our market share.”
He also mentioned, “One of our U.S. competitors’ main solutions is identical to our product ‘JBS-LVO,’ and that solution achieved about 110 billion KRW in sales in its second year, 2022.” He emphasized, “After receiving the New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP), sales exploded. We also plan to quickly obtain NTAP and generate 600 billion KRW in sales by 2028.”
JLK aims to achieve 600 billion KRW in sales by 2028 through the global expansion of its AI stroke solutions.
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