(DIGITAL 365) Incorporating IT into excellent medical infrastructure in Korea - Youngyong Park, CTO of JNPMEDI

"This is an interview article published in the November 2021 issue of the Webzine Digital 365 published by the Federation of Information Industries (FKII)."

The COVID-19 pandemic is also affecting the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Unintentionally, COVID-19 is giving more power to new reforms between regulations and reforms such as personal information protection and MyData.

"This is an interview article published in the November 2021 issue of the Webzine Digital 365 published by the Federation of Information Industries (FKII)."

JNPMEDI, which is promoting the advancement of domestic medical infrastructure based on digital technology, is preparing for the coexistence of the medical and healthcare industries by launching Maven eCOA (Clinical Outcome Assessment), a decentralized clinical trial solution, in June.

Q. Please introduce JNPMEDI and tell us about its key business areas.

A. JNPMEDI was established to contribute to further advancement in terms of Korea's medical infrastructure and medical data management platform, which has been recognized internationally since COVID-19.

With Maven CDMS at the forefront, we offer a variety of cloud-based solutions for efficient management and successful clinical support of clinical trial data. We are also actively working with people from the medical, pharmaceutical and IT industries to ensure operational excellence in the overall process of managing medical data based on digital technologies such as blockchain and cloud.

Q. Korea still seems to have a different social perspective on personal information protection and its use. What level do you think Korea is at in terms of medical data utilization compared to the situation in major developed countries?

A. Although Korea's medical platform is world-class, various attempts have not been made due to relatively many restrictions on medical data from a public perspective. However, for the development of the healthcare industry, I think it is very important to use personal medical data, which is the source of actual clinical evidence data (RWE).

In developed countries, RWE is based on various insights into clinical trials to predict results, reducing the time and cost of clinical trials and minimizing the risk of clinical trials.

In overseas diabetes research cases, the study, which took eight years in the existing method, was conducted in just six weeks by analyzing data from four years of clinical trials based on RWE. Korea is also expected to try clinical trials using MyData soon, and solutions are being prepared in advance.

Q. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing many changes in society. Among them, the perception that digital transformation in the medical market from face-to-face to non-face-to-face is an inevitable trend is changing. What does JNPMEDI want to pursue in this situation?

A. With non-face-to-face methods applied in various fields in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we now know that we can work remotely and effectively anywhere and how. Even if COVID-19 ends, clinical research will not return to the past, and the application of Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs), which minimize physical visits by those involved in clinical trials, is expected to accelerate further. Taking advantage of this atmosphere, JNPMEDI launched Maven eCOA (Clinical Outcome Assessment), a clinical trial solution using smartphones and wearable devices, in June, and is actively responding to the trend of non-face-to-face clinical trials. Ultimately, JNPMEDI wants to be a partner in the healthcare industry who is thinking about how to apply digital transformation, offering more efficient and faster solutions. In addition, we are constantly making efforts to incorporate new areas of clinical trials such as digital therapies and AI diagnostic medical devices and the latest medical industry trends.

(From left to right) Minseok Kim CBO, Jingon Kim Head of BD, Youngyong Park CTO, Kwunho Jeong CEO

Q. What are the key capabilities of JNPMEDI and the differences and competitiveness of Maven (CDMS, eCOA, Docs) solutions?

A. JNPMEDI aims to become a leading healthcare software company in the global market by realizing the core value of solutions such as flexibility, ease of use, and operational excellence.

JNPMEDI is comprised of experienced personnel in management consulting, digital technology, clinical trials, and pharmaceuticals, and has a high understanding of the domain and excellent technical skills. JNPMEDI's flagship product, Maven Clinical Cloud, is a platform to provide a series of processes, from clinical trial protocol development to data collection and monitoring, as a one-stop service. For example, developing a clinical trial protocol with Maven Docs allows you to automatically generate relevant clinical documents, including subject consent and case records, based on the protocol's content. In addition, because it is an open platform, it allows flexible interworking with other solutions, helping to introduce new solutions while minimizing transition costs. Q. What led you to participate in the SW Maestro course, what did you gain from it and how did it affect the development of the JNPMEDI solution? A. Most engineers tend to focus on the technology of the product rather than the market. I think the success or failure of a startup lies in establishing a hypothesis and releasing a product that can satisfy the market after going through the product-market fit verification process based on that hypothesis. Through the SW Maestro course, we were able to receive high-quality mentoring not only for product development but also for business areas, and based on this, we were able to greatly reduce the trial and error that could occur in bringing the company's products to the market.

Youngyong Park, CTO

Q. What are the threats and challenges of your business and how did you overcome them?

A. The inherent limitations arising from the 'boundaries with medical law' seem to be the biggest challenge facing the digital healthcare industry. Although it was only a short time since I started the company, I was able to see the positive signs of a rapidly spreading digital transformation within the healthcare community. As a result, even if the medical community is expected to oppose digital technology-related issues such as MyData, telemedicine, and non-face-to-face clinical trials, it is expected that the medical and healthcare industries will coexist in the long run. It may take a lot of time for the difficulties of the regulation to be resolved, but I want to take it as an opportunity for startups like us to prepare for it perfectly. We will do our best to operate our service in line with Day 1 when regulations are lifted.