Ukrainians can easily join startups’ programs and participate in research in order to experience new possibilities of medicine.
Dmytro Shymkiv, the chairman of Darnitsa Group board of directors, expressed his opinion at a panel discussion HealthTech Talk, organized by the European Business Association together with the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa”, and Philips Company.
Rapid development of Health Tech at the intersection of technology, medicine and pharmaceutics has expanded the availability of prevention and treatment of many diseases. Today, patients can choose between numerous tools for monitoring health biomarkers, and a segment of early diagnosis of morbidity is gradually forming around them.
“The next trend is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which allows, together with biodata, to process the acquired knowledge and make recommendations. This is true for cardiology, muscle condition, pressure parameters and the like,” the specialist stated confidently.
According to Shymkiv, around the clock tracking of the well-being of millions of people will lead to the accumulation of a huge database for the artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze. Its application opens up a lot of new opportunities, in particular, the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” is considering the implementation of AI to improve the functioning of the business as a whole, to study patients behavior and how diligently they adhere to treatment.
“We are considering the use of artificial intelligence in the field of in silico research. So far, there are no relevant platforms operating in Ukraine, so we are studying the solutions that exist in the US. The second direction is the search for new ways of using the currently known molecules,” the chairman of the Darnitsa Group board of directors said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of telemedicine. There are startups in Ukraine that are investing in this area. Everywhere in the world this sphere has expanded under the influence of the coronavirus crisis by 35% -40%. Face to face contact with a doctor will become a thing of the past, and the first appointment “via a computer” will become an absolutely real story. “This will help to solve another problem – shortage of doctors, which is observed all over the world,” Dmytro Shymkiv predicts.
But a correct diagnosis is only half the battle. Patients often need long-term therapy or surgery. In this area, Dmytro Shymkiv believes, the future belongs to medical robots.
Among other important trends, the chairman of the Darnitsa Group board of directors named so-called personalized drugs – systems that determine individual dosages and track drug treatment dynamics, which, according to Dmytro Shymkiv, are already being tested in Ukraine. He also mentioned digiceuticals (digital therapeutics – Ed.), this is a name for separate mobile applications that are prescribed in addition to drugs and procedures. The functionality of such applications can be aimed, in particular, at tracking and correcting psychological states.
“One of the directions is PTSD, that is, post-traumatic syndrome disorder. Such applications are already being used today to treat, for example, neurosis,” Shymkiv added. – There are applications that track your sleep, and another one that can cause a calming effect on the brain by means of a specialized game. All top international pharmaceutical companies have departments developing with digiceuticals. We are also considering this sphere, we are studying startups and opportunities for partnerships. We see ourselves as a company that soon will offer not only pills and infusions, but also applications that heal.“
“If we talk about technoparks, incubators, the state should enable businesses to finance them, realizing that this is how we finance science. Today we are offered to make such investments only from profit. At the same time, business has already been financing culture, science, corporate and social responsibility initiatives from profits,” – Dmytro Shymkiv stated. He elaborated his idea and told about the experience of many developed countries where private companies have the opportunity to reduce the tax burden by receiving a tax credit as a result of funding science. In Ukraine, however, there is practically no such incentive for enterprises.