Innovative Medical Technologies have Become More Accessible, Dmytro Shymkiv

Ukrainians are free to join startup programmes and participate in research to experience the new opportunities of medicine.

This is the opinion of Dmytro Shymkiv, Head of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa Group, which he shared during the HealthTech Talk panel discussion, organized by the European Business Association and supported by Darnitsa, pharmaceutical company, and Philips company.

The 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, surrounded by a gradually developing segment of early diagnosis of morbidity.

‘The next trend is the use of artificial intelligence, computer-aided learning, which allows, together with biodata, to process the accumulated knowledge and make recommendations. This applies to cardiology, muscle condition, blood pressure parameters, and the like’, assures the specialist.

According to Dmytro Shymkiv, 24/7 monitoring of well-being of millions of people will result in the accumulation of a huge database, which will be analysed by artificial intelligence (AI). Its application opens up new opportunities, in particular, Darnitsa, pharmaceutical company, is studying the implementation of AI to improve the functioning of business as a whole, the research of patients' behaviour and adherence.

‘We are considering the application of artificial intelligence to in silico research. So far, there are no corresponding platforms developed in Ukraine, so we are studying the solutions available in the United States. The second trend is the search for new ways to use the molecules known nowadays’, pointed out the Head of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa Group.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of telemedicine. There are startups in Ukraine that invest in this area. In the world in general, it has grown under the influence of the coronavirus crisis by 35–40%. A face-to-face contact with a physician will become a thing of the past, whereas the initial consultation via a computer will absolutely become a real story. ‘This will allow solving another problem — the lack of physicians, 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. Dmytro Shymkiv believes that the future belongs to medical robots in this area.

Among other important trends, the Head of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa Group named the so-called personalized drugs, which are systems for determining individual dosages and dynamics of drug treatment, which, according to Shymkiv, are already being tested in Ukraine. He also named digiceuticals (digital therapeutics—Ed.), within which it is suggested to prescribe to patients, in addition to drugs and procedures, separate mobile apps. The functionality of such apps can be aimed, in particular, at tracking and correcting psychological states.

‘One of the directions is PTSD, i.e. post-traumatic syndrome. Such apps are already used today to treat, for example, neurosis’, said Mr. Shymkiv. ‘There are apps that monitor your sleep, or use a specifically developed game to exercise a calming effect on your brain. All top international pharmaceutical companies have digiceuticals divisions. We are also researching this, exploring startups and partnership opportunities. We see ourselves as a company that will offer after a while not only pills and infusions, but also apps that enable to treat’.