Patients who face communication adversities, such as young children, people with mental illnesses and critically ill patients, have difficulty being assessed for pain. Premature infants whose central nervous systems have not yet formed and may experience disastrous effects require specific attention when it comes to pain treatment.
Marko Höynälä is the CEO and Founder of Kipuwex, a company that develops a small wireless IoT device that continuously records a patient’s physiological parameters digitally, converts those parameters into pain data using an algorithm and provides accurate measurements for both healthcare professionals and at-home users.
Marko is a globally well-known inventor from Oulu, Finland, with global experience in multiple technology fronts, including the IoT (Internet of Things), IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), and telehealth industries.
Here are the interview specifics that shed light on the pressing need to address chronic pain assessment and how Marko Höynälä is overcoming this obstacle with Kipuwex.
Kindly brief us about Kipuwex and its inception story.
Chronic pain is a deeply personal issue to me, as my father suffered from cancer. I saw how destructive chronic pain can be. He couldn’t handle the pain and committed suicide. Chronic pain is one of the largest medical burdens worldwide; we can’t even measure it consistently, so how can we treat it properly?
Pain is often underdiagnosed or overtreated, both of which have long-term impacts on the lives of those it affects. It was the year 2015 when I came across the local Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District’s innovation competition, in which four major global problems were faced by healthcare professionals.
One of the difficulties was objectively measuring the children’s pain. I won the competition, and that was the start of the Kipuwex company. It was highly important that winning the hospital district’s innovation competition meant getting to work closely with healthcare professionals.
Today, we have extended our collaborations with leading medical institutions and hospitals within Europe and Asia. At first, we started to develop an automatic and objective medical device for pain measurement, but during the journey, we changed our strategy.
Kipuwex device will be launched in the healthcare market as a comprehensive remote monitoring device. In the second phase, we will integrate a pain measurement feature.
What are the core values of Kipuwex, and how are you driving Kipuwex to achieve its mission and vision statement?
I have over 20 years of experience in software development, so it has been very logical that our core competencies are software, developing cloud services, algorithms, applications, and all the other IoT (Internet of Things) and IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) technologies.
With Kipuwex, we want to tackle three major healthcare problems. rising costs of healthcare, e.g., in the USA, 20% of GDP goes to healthcare. There’s a lack of access to affordable healthcare; at least half of the world’s 8 billion people still do not have access to essential health services. Chronic pain is a major global issue, affecting 20% of adults worldwide and costing $560-635 billion in the United States alone each year.
“Kipuwex’s mission is to combat healthcare inequality and help millions of people.”
“Kipuwex’s vision is to become a world-leading company in the pain management domain.”
Enlighten our readers about the key products and offerings of Kipuwex and highlight any service that is its USP.
Kipuwex is a small, wireless IoMT device that measures 12 different physiological parameters, including pain. The device is attached to the patient’s chest with a disposable ECG sticker. We measure more physiological parameters than any other similar device on the market. We have developed Kipuwex so that it is affordable for developing countries as well.
Currently, we are developing for home users the first complete health report in the world. It’s a consumer-centric digital health ecosystem for remote patient monitoring in cooperation with a unique global partnership. Also, there are well-being algorithms for preventive care and personalized heart and emotional well-being monitoring.
In your opinion, what are the current challenges in the pain management industry? How are you infusing your leadership skills and expertise over the years to create a flourishing industry with opportunities and growth?
The medical device business is very challenging. It’s a very long process to develop a new medical device and to launch it. The road to a successful launch can be filled with product development risks. Of course, it involves numerous legal and economic considerations, so we need to think and apply. Companies must comply with regulations, which can be time- and money-consuming.
The biggest challenge is how to make funding last through product development and to get sufficient funding to finalize the product development. The global pandemic was a huge challenge and postponed clinical trials. Product testing should begin early in the development process and continue throughout. The war in Ukraine has caused a lack of components.
The present research is serving as the baseline for better future strategies to improve global health initiatives, as our ecosystem is very scalable and can be integrated as well. We are getting continuously questions, is it possible for third parties to integrate our platform in their own use cases? Opportunities are quite endless when thinking of growth potential.
What are the latest technological advancements adopted by Kipuwex to deliver the best pain management services in the industry? How is it impacting the demographic concerned?
Kipuwex product is protected by patents and know-how. Our advantage and competitiveness are based on the fact that we have integrated so many sensors into such a small IoMT device. For the pain measurement feature, we are granted two patents, which are essential and extremely important to stimulate the innovation, development and commercialization of Kipuwex.
As an experienced leader, what would be your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who wish to venture into the MedTech sector?
Being an entrepreneur is difficult, especially in the MedTech industry, which is difficult in many ways. It also needs years of hard work to go to market. You must have a strong vision, mission and problem-solving abilities that are more than just business to you.
What are the future goals of Kipuwex, and How do you envision scaling up its operations and reach in 2023 and beyond?
Kipuwex’s mission is to provide remote monitoring devices throughout the world. Our vision is to become a world-leading company in the pain management domain.
The Words that Signify a Bequest
“Billions of people still do not have access to essential health services, and at the same time, health care costs are unsustainable across the world. Next generation sensor technologies, in combination with smart algorithms, bring unlimited opportunities to ensure accessible and affordable healthcare solutions. Kipuwex remote monitoring device is well positioned to play an important role in revolutionizing the integration of quality healthcare outside hospitals.” –Prof. Dr. Niclas Adler, CEO and Founder of Adler Industries. CEO and Founder of Synthesis Group, iHealth Solutions and iPower Group. Stockholm, Sweden
“Kipuwex is one of the state-of-the-art devices for pain management, which is the need of the hour in this era of digitalization and can revolutionize pain management in certain sectors of the population. It also has the promise of being utilized as a unique remote vital parameter monitoring device such as in emergency kits, and such devices have now become a necessity.” –Prof. Dr. MCh. B J Rajes, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Next Story: https://insightscare.com/rescape-innovation-limited-reducing-pain-and-anxiety-through-virtual-reality/
