TrueMed’s service detects counterfeit medicines
Who: TrueMed has developed the world’s first fully digital counterfeit medicine detector. The company is working with global pharmaceutical companies.
What: TrueMed’s mobile application detects the authenticity of medicines within seconds. How it works is, the application scans the medicine package or package content with the camera of a mobile device.
Medicine manufacturers can protect their products by entering them into TrueMed’s service. When the package or the package content of a suspicious medicine is scanned, the Artificial Intelligence of the platform analyzes it without delay and determines the authenticity of the item. The application can also be used to protect any medicine already on sale.
“Up to a million people die annually because of counterfeit medicines. This is a huge global problem. I believe that our service will be in use at several global pharmaceutical companies within five years. In principle, our technology can be used to detect the authenticity of any product, but we believed that it was ethical to develop the application especially for counterfeit medicines. The premise of our work is protecting people,” says TrueMed’s CEO & Co-founder Jyrki Berg.
Maculaser fights blindness
Who: The company founded in 2020 has developed a new type of laser treatment from preventing the progression of major retinal diseases. Maculaser has raised 1.2 million euros of funding. At the turn of the year, Maculaser will begin clinical trials with a device developed by the company.
What: Today there are few late-stage treatments available for retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Laser treatment is based on heating retinal tissue, but the temperature increase cannot be controlled in individual patients with currently available technologies. As a result, the treatment is often ineffective.
Maculaser has developed a laser treatment technology that allows patient-specific control of retinal temperature. The technology renders treatment considerably more effective and safe.
“Our key objective is to improve the lives of tens of millions by retaining their eyesight. We are now conducting clinical trials to prove that the treatment is safe and effective in retarding or even reversing the progression of retinal diseases. After we obtain the marketing authorization, we will market the technology globally,” says Maculaser’s CEO and Co-founder Jani Tirronen.
Koite Health’s innovation promotes oral health
Who: The company founded by a cardiologist, a chemist and an engineer strives to prevent and to treat oral diseases including chronic periodontitis caused by bacteria.
What: Lumoral is a device launched in 2020 that kills bacteria causing oral diseases with a unique method based on photochemical reactions. Lumoral is used to prevent oral diseases and dental decay. The device is suitable for regular use at home, and it is already available in Finland.
In 2021, Koite Health will bring to market a device that is effective in treating chronic periodontitis. Clinical trials have shown that, in combination with high-quality dental care, the device may even cure highly advanced periodontitis. The company’s plans for the next few years include expansion first to other Nordic countries, next to the rest of Europe and eventually to the United States.
“Half of the population suffers from some level of periodontitis, and the disease is so severe with ten percent that they face the threat of losing their teeth. Periodontitis also has a major impact on general health. Our goal is to provide more tools to overcome this major problem. Our technology is highly effective in treating periodontitis caused by bacteria. We want to help the world to reduce the use of antibiotics,” says Koite Health CEO Sakari Nikinmaa.
VEIL.AI developed software to protect health data
Who: An eight-person team specializing in medical data developed software at the University of Helsinki that secures health data faster and more efficiently than what was possible earlier. The neural network of the software is in the patenting process.
What: Anonymization of health data used to take a vast amount of time and was partly unreliable. Furthermore, the anonymization process unnecessarily removed valuable information.
VEIL.AI’s software anonymizes data in real time within the firewall of the data owner. The software renders anonymized data available for research and innovation purposes without delay. The method can reduce quality loss by up to tens of percentage points.
“Our goal is to ensure that people can live healthy lives and happily longer than before. When high-quality and protected health data is better available for use, people can have better care, more accurate and faster diagnoses, more effective medication, and opportunities to make use of self-diagnostics. We believe that our invention can be used to develop new types of and better medical innovations,” says VEIL.AI CEO Tuomo Pentikäinen.