Cervical cancer is the primary cause of cancer fatalities in women in over 40 countries. Every two minutes, cervical cancer takes the life of a woman worldwide, which indicates that over 300,000 women die due to this type of cancer each year across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that there were 600,000+ new cervical cancer cases worldwide in 2020.
As per WHO’s data, over 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income nations. Without large-scale control measures, cervical cancer cases and mortality rates are projected to deteriorate. Manual testing and detection procedures for cervical cancer diagnosis are time-consuming and unreachable for women from lower- and middle-income families.
With the help of advanced technology, time-consuming diagnosis procedures such as cervical cancer detection could be dealt with more efficiently. Technically innovative devices can be made easily reachable as well as affordable across the world. They can help reduce the fatalities caused by late diagnosis.
TruScreen Group Limited has created an AI-enabled device that delivers real-time detection of pre-cancerous and cancerous cervical changes to help enhance the health and wellbeing of women worldwide.
We spoke to Juliet Hull, the Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Director of TruScreen, to learn more about their modern-age solution, which can save many lives.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Please brief our audience about your company, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a reliable name in the healthcare space.
TruScreen was established in 2013 and has been selling devices in multiple countries since. It is Dual-listed on both New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges. It is building a strong reputation as the primary screening tool for cervical cancer for lower-to-middle-income countries.
Tell us more about your organization’s offerings and what aspects make it stand out in the healthcare industry.
TruScreen is a unique real-time screening device for cervical cancer. Using AI-enabled technology, it screens cervical tissue and gives you an instant result if it detects cancerous or pre-cancerous tissue.
This reduces the need for Laboratory infrastructure and provides the patient with an immediate result allowing for a plan to be activated if required, reducing time to treatment.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how the adoption of modern technologies like AI and ML is impacting the healthcare industry. How is your company adapting to the change?
Modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are the way of the future. To reach more people and provide care to all, we need to adopt new ways to treat and diagnose. We need to be agile and able to work in remote settings and not rely on people getting to main centres.
TruScreen can provide access to screening to women in regions who previously would have had to travel. TruScreen can also ease the burden on laboratories as their workload has increased due to COVID.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the healthcare industry?
My advice is change takes time; governments, hospitals, and clinicians can be slow to adopt new technologies. You have to be determined and patient and keep working at it to make a difference.
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in 2022 and beyond?
We have been working during COVID-19 on developing our relationships in key countries and building data. We are excited about 2022-23 as we have new regions adopting the technology and new data showing how effective TruScreen is being released.
The Prime Mover
Juliet Hull commenced her career as a Nurse and has over 23 years of experience in the Medical Device sector across APAC. Juliet’s experience in the sector has helped develop the company and expand into more regions and help navigate through the COVID environment. TruScreen has continued to grow despite access being impacted by COVID.
Client Assessments
“A device with these characteristics would make my visits to the gynecologist more pleasant, with no discomfort or anxiety caused by having to wait for days to get my results.”
- Patient, Monterrey
“I did not know something like this was available. I am really interested.”
- Gynaecologist, Private Sector, Mexico City
“For me as a clinician, it is also important that the TruScreen device is an objective, rather than a subjective method, minimizing the risk of human error. Simultaneously, the examination is technically very simple and fast. We immediately receive the response and determine the diagnostic strategy.”
- Ricardo A. Lúa Alvarado, Medical Director, Guadalajara
TruScreen was a winner of a Good Design Award in 2017 in the Medical & Scientific product category. Good Design Australia recognizes the work of teams collaborating to design new solutions to global challenges and invites renowned design experts from Australia and around the world to participate in the evaluation process.
