Due to the coronavirus pandemic, medtech has become the most sought-after sector for venture capital investment in less than six months. In March 2020, the EU authorities agreed to invest €80 million in the German startup CureVac, which is developing vaccines against viruses. At the same time, the Singaporean company Doctor Anywhere, which offers a remote consultation service for doctors, raised $27 million, including from the Australian investment fund Square Peg, the Singaporean state investment fund EDBI and the IHH Healthcare clinic chain. The American telemedicine platform 98point6, which uses artificial intelligence in parallel with traditional consultations of specialists, reported an increase in requests at least twice.
In our country, the first noticeable consequence of the coronavirus pandemic was the progress in changing the legislation regulating the medical sector and drug trade. On March 18, the State Duma adopted in the second (main) reading a bill on the online sale of over-the-counter drugs and medical products. A day later, Yandex.Taxi announced plans to launch the remote sale of medicines and their delivery by couriers and drivers. Among the project participants are the pharmacy chains 36,6, ASNA and Nevis, as well as Alium and Polysorb manufacturers. On the same day, such plans were announced by Vse Apteki, an aggregator of goods from pharmacy chains (a Mail.ru Group project) and the Delivery Club, a ready-made food and grocery delivery service.
The next step is telemedicine. The third annual Telemedforum conference was scheduled for March of this year, at which medical tech companies were supposed to share their vision of the prospects for the development of this industry in the country. However, the event had to be postponed to September due to the coronavirus. The editors of Trenda contacted some of the forum participants and gave them the opportunity to express what they expect from this sector in the near future and how the pandemic will affect the attitude of our country and the country’s authorities towards telemedicine.
Boris Zingerman, Head of Digital Medicine at Invitro:
“Emergencies can be a catalyst for change”
“The main obstacle to the introduction of telemedicine technologies is the natural conservatism of physicians in relation to new unfamiliar technologies and the well-founded fear of healthcare leaders in relation to solutions that have not yet been tested. This fear leads to the emergence of regulatory documents that form many “fences” on the path of implementation. The healthy conservatism of physicians is based on the fact that for the last three thousand years, all medicine has been and still remains full-time. Remote technologies require the restructuring of the work of doctors, the search for time for remote communication against the backdrop of a full face-to-face workload.
In everyday life, this is a viscous, slow process that everyone involved in telemedicine faces. However, emergency situations can be a catalyst for change. After the coronavirus, the world will never be the same again. Very many “forms of distance living”, technologically ready for a long time, took root slowly precisely because of habit. Apparently, the coronavirus will deal a serious blow to these old habits. An example would be a bill on the online sale of over-the-counter drugs. This topic was discussed for a very long time, it had many opponents, and it seemed that if the law was adopted, it would not be very soon.
All last year, proposals were also being prepared to remove some of the technical and organizational restrictions introduced into the law on telemedicine in 2017. One of these restrictions is the prohibition on diagnosing and prescribing treatment during the initial teleconsultation for a patient whom the doctor has never seen in person. This is very similar to a similar ban passed in the US state of Texas a few years ago. One of the largest US telemedicine companies (Teladoc. -) was suing Texas because of this. And three months after this ban was lifted in May 2017, a hurricane happened that destroyed the entire familiar healthcare system (Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 became the most destructive in the history of the state. -). And in this situation, all the major telemedicine companies in the country offered the people of Texas to use their services for free. We’re in a similar situation right now.”
Mikhail Prepelitsky, WHO digital health expert, Onetrak project manager:
“New technologies will require new skills”
“Now, in a time of crisis, things that could have been done a long time ago and calmly will be done in heroic mode. One of these things is telemedicine and remote consultations of doctors. The legislative framework for this was adopted in January 2018, but the large-scale implementation of technologies has not yet occurred. Technologies for the use of wearable electronics for remote health monitoring have not yet been widely used. All these things will now be given a serious acceleration if the necessary measures are taken, including in terms of urgent changes in legislation. For example, in America, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration – Food and Drug Administration. -) introduced an accelerated procedure for registering medical devices, primarily to speed up the launch of coronavirus tests on the market (in particular, the accelerated procedure has already been approved Abbott test that allows you to test for coronavirus in five minutes. -).
The introduction of telemedicine is also a psychological problem. A few years ago in our country, most people were afraid to pay for purchases with a credit card and order them via the Internet. This trend is changing, as a person, by his own example or the example of his friends, is convinced that it works and nothing terrible happens. With telemedicine, things can happen faster because many people will now have to use such services.
For the mass distribution of telemedicine, a systematic approach is needed, including in changing the system of training doctors. Now specialists are trained on the basis that they must work with patients exclusively in person. New technologies will require new skills that current professionals simply do not have.”
Andrey Almazov, Project Director of the National Medical Knowledge Base:
“The epidemic will bring insight to governments, businesses and scientists”
“The pace of the spread of coronavirus around the planet has shown that such epidemics are no longer a problem of individual countries and that they need to be fought by the efforts of the entire medical community. The current situation demonstrates that doctors and scientists do not have enough data to analyze: the world has become global, the situation is developing extremely rapidly, so the traditional means of collecting and exchanging information do not work. By the way, this applies not only to coronavirus, but to many diseases in general, including the common flu. Viruses, including due to the massive use of antibiotics, mutate so quickly that scientists and pharmaceutical companies do not have time to use the information collected.
In this situation, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data could be a solution to the problem. However, the use of such tools requires that patient data be collected and stored digitally around the world. It is also necessary that countries and medical tech companies agree and learn how to exchange information so that the interests of citizens and the inviolability of personal data are not affected. But I think it is possible in critical situations. In the end, the countries somehow agreed on space exploration, and I hope they will agree on this issue as well.
AI and Big Data are already being effectively and massively used, including for analyzing x-rays and identifying potential pathologies. Another successful example is a pilot project implemented in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. There, a retrospective screening of cardiovascular diseases was carried out and the information received was analyzed using Big Data algorithms. As a result of the project, it was possible to identify a number of factors that affect the growth of morbidity, for example, a poor environmental situation or shortcomings in the healthcare system. Relevant recommendations were handed over to the authorities.
The coronavirus epidemic, it seems to me, will lead to an epiphany in the government sector, as well as in business and in the scientific community. The urbanization of society is an irreversible process, as is the transparency of borders between countries, therefore, unfortunately, this situation is most likely not the last. And the answer to this challenge can only be very significant investments in research in various industries. For example, studying the principles of human immunity and how to improve its performance or studying how the DNA of a particular person affects his susceptibility to certain diseases.
Denis Shvetsov, general director of telemedicine service “Doctor Ryadom”:
“Wearable devices will form a digital patient profile”
“In the current epidemiological situation, telemedicine is showing its effectiveness as a tool necessary to provide the population with medical care in conditions of quarantine, self-isolation and the need to route patients with various symptoms. More and more countries are turning to online consultations, integrating this format of communication with a doctor into their daily lives. In recent days, we have more than doubled the number of daily consultations, and this figure continues to grow (currently 5,4 million users are connected to our service).
Thanks to the ubiquitous penetration of telecommunication technologies, in recent years we have seen a complete transformation of the taxi markets, the delivery of ready-made meals and products, and payments. The same is happening with medicine. Of course, the traditional face-to-face appointment will not disappear, but the current situation will accelerate the process of merging offline and online medicine, when the patient chooses an effective in a particular case, convenient and accessible format.
General mobilization and maximum actualization of topics related to healthcare will push the development of existing trends. The future belongs to the constant medical, informational, legal support of a person, regardless of his geographical location.
The accumulation of structured and unstructured data will form new approaches to maintaining health, including expanding the possibilities of using AI. Self-diagnosis systems, imaging systems for improving the quality of diagnostics and risk assessment, and systems for supporting medical decision-making are already being developed.
The indicators taken from wearable devices will complement the data accumulation system, forming an individual digital profile of the patient, allowing to take into account not only the physiological, but also the behavioral characteristics of a person. On this basis, individual medical products will be formed, and the devices themselves will become indispensable assistants not only in diagnostics, but also in the process of providing medical care.
In general, the development of medical technologies, along with a reduction in the distance between the doctor and the patient, will shift the focus from the treatment of advanced cases of diseases to their timely detection, and then to prevention. This will improve the quality of life of citizens, as well as reduce the financial burden on the healthcare system.”
Ilya Kupriyanov, co-founder and managing partner of Doctor at Work:
“Telemedicine will help protect doctors from infection”
“In our niche, we see two main areas, the development of which will be spurred by the pandemic: these are digital communications and telemedicine. In the past few years, pharmaceutical companies have been slowly moving towards adapting marketing in the digital environment: testing various channels, experimenting with formats and platforms, learning to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches and tools. At the same time, medical representatives remained the main driving force of communications for the pharmaceutical business. This is especially true for prescription drugs, the promotion of which to a wide audience of consumers is prohibited in many countries.
Today, in the context of the coronavirus, it is vital to keep personal communications to a minimum. This is a matter of safety and business responsibility, especially to doctors, who are at increased risk of infection and on whom the salvation of people depends. The processes that have already been going on in the industry will accelerate. Those who have not yet learned how to work with digital channels are learning this right now, because the advantage will be on the side of businesses that understand how to move through the Internet.
With regard to telemedicine, the most important thing is that it will help protect doctors from infection. We must not allow what is happening now in Italy and some other European countries, when employees of medical institutions are worn out, stressed, weakened and quickly infected with the coronavirus, even despite the precautions.
According to WHO, up to 50% of those infected with coronavirus do not experience symptoms of the disease, while being carriers. They may come to the clinic with a different problem and bring the virus with them. So doctors themselves turn into patients, and there is no one to treat patients. As a result, the death rate is on the rise.
Remote consultations will help keep doctors healthy now, when it is needed most. They will also help keep patients healthy by not having to go to the clinic, exposing them to additional risk that could have been avoided. We hope that the State Duma and the government will hear the appeals of NTMA, IIDF, DocDoc and other participants in the telemedicine market and adopt appropriate amendments to the law that guarantee not only the development of medical technologies and their greater penetration into the daily practice of doctors and patients, but also the saving of many lives. .
Evgeny Kostyushov, CEO of MedVR:
“There is an urgent need for mass training of doctors”
“We can say with confidence that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital transformation of medical technologies is taking place at a high speed. A striking example is the significant interest on the part of patients in telemedicine services and the relaxation of the state’s regulatory requirements in this matter. Every day we hear news that Skolkovo residents are implementing innovative technologies, adapting them to the current situation. These are express tests, AI systems for analyzing x-rays and CT scans, virtual platforms for receiving patients, etc. At the same time, there was an urgent need for mass training of medical workers and students of medical universities to counteract COVID-19.
MedVR manufactures medical simulators based on a set of key immersive virtual reality technologies. MedVR engineers, developers and medical expert group are creating a mobile simulation VR complex for training staff in medical institutions and universities during a pandemic. The simulator includes a set of highly realistic scenarios in VR to develop personal safety skills for medical staff, and also allows you to diagnose the disease and treat patients with coronavirus.
The student puts on VR glasses, sensors on his hands and feet and is completely immersed in the atmosphere of work in an extreme epidemiological situation. At the beginning of the session, the doctor appears in a special room where he needs to put on protective equipment in the correct sequence before going to the patients.
The health worker chooses one of ten cases, which include various degrees of severity of the patient’s condition and working conditions, up to super-extreme ones, when the epidemiological situation is at its peak (ventilators and beds with patients are deployed in non-standard conditions). It is possible to carry out various actions with bedridden patients depending on their condition. All actions are selected manually, without the use of controllers. The student examines the patient, collects an anamnesis, assesses the clinical situation, prescribes tests and examinations. Assigning any study, he receives a full report in the usual medical format.
Treatment is not limited by the choice of the drug, but involves various routes of administration and dosages, it also provides for the possibility of intubation of severe patients and connection to a ventilator with a further choice of treatment tactics and regimen on a ventilator. The examiner sees the process, and upon its completion, the student receives an automatic comprehensive assessment.
Thus, within the framework of the coronavirus pandemic, with the help of our simulator, we can provide training for a large number of medical personnel in working with symptoms and treatment in virtual reality.”
Subscribe and follow us on Yandex.Zen — technology, innovation, economics, education and sharing in one channel.