Korea Health Industry Development Institute

South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute are seeking hospital participants in its pilot project to improve medical image exchange. Based on a media release, the pilot project aims to introduce a new system where patients can receive and share their medical images electronically. The upcoming system will also be able to verify these digital image records from patients who move from one hospital to another. WHY IT MATTERS A medical information exchange system is already in place in South Korea since 2019. About 9,000 hospitals and health facilities have been involved in its development since 2016 with 445 capable of exchanging medical images. However, this system still issues CDs of such records as MRI and CT scans which patients carry when transferring between hospitals. It also only allows data exchange to one designated facility, initiated at the discretion of a professional, alongside obtaining patient consent. A new digital system is being piloted to address such gaps, providing further convenience to patients and the health system. The project seeks to improve existing data exchange systems and the established work processes in issuing medical images. Besides enhancing the patient experience, the upcoming system is also expected to help prevent duplicate testing and ensure the continuity of care. THE LARGER TREND Improving medical image data exchange is part of broader efforts by the MOHW to streamline and promote the use of health data across hospitals in South Korea. Last year, it started establishing the Korea Core Data for Interoperability and Transmission standards, as well as the digital health record platform MyHealthway , which is now in its second phase of implementation. A national project integrating biological data of nearly 800,000 people is also set to begin this year. Additionally, the MOHW, together with the Korea Health Information Service, is currently facilitating various data access deals with major Korean hospitals through a project promoting medical data utilisation for research. Meanwhile, an MOHW committee recently met to introduce a four-year roadmap for establishing South Korea's medical AI research and development ecosystem. The roadmap underscores the need to support the R&D of AI in essential medical care (such as emergency care, major diseases, and cancer), AI-powered digital therapeutics and surgical robots, and AI-driven novel drug discovery. The roadmap also mentions the development of a common healthcare data platform for medical AI research.

The South Korean government seeks to streamline access to the personal health records of over eight million patients held in tertiary general hospitals in a single platform by next year. WHAT IT'S ABOUT My Healthway allows Koreans to view their medical records in a standardised format from various hospitals. It also enables hospitals to securely access their information with consent. The platform stores 113 types of health data, including surgery reports and pathology test results. Since launching the platform in September last year, 860 health institutions have been linked to the platform, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW). Patient data from an additional 144 hospitals and clinics will go live on MyHealthway next month September, concluding the first phase of onboarding. WHY IT MATTERS In a press statement, the MOHW, together with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, said that 21 more tertiary hospitals will connect their patients' health records to MyHealthway as part of the second round of onboarding. This round, which began in August this year and ends in July next year, targets to connect 259 more medical institutions. The MOHW noted that tertiary general hospitals hold extensive and detailed medical records of around 8.3 million patients. Their participation in the project is thus crucial in promoting and expanding MyHealthway. By next year, MyHealthway is expected to have a total of 1,263 tertiary general hospitals, general hospitals, and clinics connecting their patients' health records. THE LARGER TREND Part of the Korean government's larger Digital Platform Government initiative, MyHealthway was launched following a pilot with 245 medical facilities in 2022. About $9 million was earmarked for its rollout in the 2024 budget.

SEOUL, South Korea--( BUSINESS WIRE )--PROTEINA Co., Ltd., in collaboration with Seoul National University (SNU) and Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), has announced the publication of its latest research in Nature Biomedical Engineering . The study presents a novel approach to personalizing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients by leveraging protein-protein interaction (PPI) profiling to predict drug response. Critical Need for Personalized AML Treatment Nearly 90% of AML patients fail to survive without achieving complete remission during initial treatment. ABT-199, in combination with hypomethylating agents, has emerged as a promising therapy by inhibiting the BCL2 protein, a key player in cancer progression. However, varying patient dependency on BCL2 signaling complicates patient selection for this treatment. Innovative Technique for PPI Profiling A team of researchers from PROTEINA, SNU, and SNUH tackled this challenge by developing a single-molecule pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation (SMPC) technique. This method quantifies over 20 different types of PPIs and protein expression levels from clinical specimens, using as little as 1 ml of body fluid such as blood or bone marrow aspirate. The SMPC technique identifies critical PPI links contributing to leukemia cell survival when ABT-199 is administered. The researchers created a prediction model with an AUROC value of 0.94, accurately selecting patients likely to respond to ABT-199 therapy. Key Findings and Clinical Implications The study revealed that the BCL2-BAX complex plays a significant role in the survival of AML cells under apoptotic stress induced by ABT-199. Conversely, the BCLxL-BAK complex is linked to resistance, highlighting the drug's selective mechanism. Through extensive PPI profiling of samples from 32 AML patients, the research identified key PPIs correlating with drug responsiveness. The developed biomarker demonstrated high predictive power, forecasting drug response in 9 out of 10 patients with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 83.3%. Future Directions and Clinical Validation PROTEINA has acquired venetoclax response prediction technology and patents from SNU and SNUH. The company is currently collaborating with Professor Janghee Woo of Emory University School of Medicine for global clinical validation. "We are thrilled to start this large-scale clinical validation, which is a significant step toward expanding the utility of our platform technology in precision medicine," says Hongwon Lee, Chief Technology Officer at PROTEINA. Support and Acknowledgements This research was supported by the National Grants for Leading Scientists of the National Research Foundation of South Korea (NRF) [grant number NRF-2021R1A3B1071354], the Bio Medical Technology Development Program of the NRF [grant number NRF-2018M3A9E2023523], and the Korea Health Technology R&D Project of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) [grant number HI14C1277]. About PROTEINA Co., Ltd. PROTEINA Co., Ltd. is a leading biotech company specializing in proteomics, focusing on protein complexes and protein-protein interactions. The company provides cutting-edge analysis services for large pharmaceutical developers, aiming to advance precision medicine through innovative diagnostic technologies.