News Digest 13.06.2024 — 17.06.2024
Regulators
The government will additionally allocate more than 1.8 billion rubles for medical products, medical nutrition and medicines for beneficiaries
The funds will be sent according to the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 5, 2024 No. 1401-r - http://static.government.ru/media/files/cPMuoMJAc0r6b0G7AVHAFOny6hgOYJfk.pdf
This social service is provided to disabled people, including participants of the Great Patriotic War, disabled children, and residents of Chernobyl. The need for specific drugs and medical devices for each person is determined by his attending physician.
Earlier, the Government indexed the amount for which beneficiaries can receive free medicines, medical devices and medical nutrition. The decision required additional funding.
In total, in 2024, almost 58 billion rubles are provided for these purposes in the federal budget.
As Mikhail Myshustin said during a meeting with the vice prime ministers on June 10: "The president personally noted the importance of maintaining such support, emphasized that saving the people and strengthening people's health are a long-term priority for us."
Market news
GC "Unimed" invests 40 million rubles in the production of suture material in the Moscow region
The Moscow Region Industrial Development Fund approved a preferential loan for the implementation of an investment project to launch a new production of medical products in the Odintsovo District. Unimed company will receive more than 13 million rubles. for the purchase of equipment, the press service of the Ministry of Investments, Industry and Science of the region reported.
The investor intends to invest more than 40 million rubles. in the production of suture material. The launch of the project is scheduled for 2025. The plant will produce about 750,000 of sets per hour
JSC "Unimed" is engaged in the development and supply of equipment for clinical and diagnostic laboratories. Last year, after the company merged with the seaside distributor "Cerebrum", it became known about the holding's plans to build a laboratory and production complex with an area of at least 7,000 square meters. m2 in Dubna. Investments in the production of medical devices were estimated at more than 583 million rubles. The project operator is a subsidiary of Labindustriya LLC.
FAS suspected suppliers of medical devices for the rehabilitation of SVO participants in collusion
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) found signs of violations in the auctions for the supply of medical products and consumables for institutions involved in the rehabilitation of participants in a special military operation (SVO). Two cases have been opened, the press service of the department reported on June 17.
LLC "Venddelys", OOO "Ster Medical", OOO "Ster 23", OOO "Labkorp" and OOO "Labstor" are being prosecuted in the first case for violation of the antimonopoly legislation, in the second - LLC "Galar" and an unnamed economic entity. The organizations are suspected of conspiring to maintain prices at auctions for the supply of medical products and consumables for hospitals in Moscow and the Moscow Region, in particular, the Capital Hospital for War Veterans No. 2.
The total sum of the initial (maximum) contract prices has previously exceeded 1.1 billion rubles. In case of establishment of guilt, organizations are threatened with recoverable fines.
Digitization of oncology laboratories in Moscow reduced the time for making a diagnosis to 20%
The unification of laboratories of Moscow oncology clinics into a single circuit and their digitalization allowed doctors to establish diagnoses 15-20% faster. Annually, more than 1.5 million studies are conducted in the pathomorphological departments of hospitals, Anastasiya Rakova, deputy mayor of the capital for social development, said.
She reminded that city clinics switched to digital diagnostics of tumors after the implementation of the standard of oncological care in 2020. Pathomorphological departments of inpatients were re-equipped, routine processes were automated, new software was developed, glasses and blocks were replaced with digital images that are accumulated in a single digital database.
Over time, this will allow creating one of the world's largest specialized archives for training artificial intelligence, Rakova noted.
She added that digitalization also helped solve logistical problems. In order to show the vitreous preparation to the medical workers of the second institution, it was necessary to organize its transportation first. Now the collegial review can be conducted in real time, while in the process of communication, doctors can highlight diagnostically significant signs on the monitor screen.
All pathomorphological departments of anchor oncology clinics in Moscow (S.S. Yudin Hospital, Moscow City Oncology Hospital No. 62, Kommunarka Moscow Multidisciplinary Clinical Center, S.P. Botkin Hospital and A.S. Moscow Clinical Research Center Loginov) were combined into a single digital circuit at the beginning of 2024.
"R-Pharm" introduced the ZAP-X radiosurgical platform without cobalt to the Russian market
The "R-Pharm" holding brought to the Russian market the ZAP-X radiosurgery platform - a system of stereotaxic radiosurgery without the use of cobalt. The platform is based on the use of a powerful accelerator, which concentrates beams at a certain point with different directions. The manufacturer of the platform is the American company Zap Surgical Systems.
Roszdravnadzor issued a registration certificate for the device on June 7, 2024. ZAP-X combines a medical linear accelerator developed by IMG Altair and a radiation shielding chamber in which radiosurgical beams are directed at thousands of angles, focusing on tumors. The system does not use cobalt, so the device allows treatment of brain tumors and other diseases of the head and neck without irradiation of healthy tissues.
ZAP-X has a self-screening system, so it can be installed both in specialized clinics and ordinary ones doctors' offices, as it does not require the preparation of a radiation protection system.
The platform entered the market and began to be widely used in 2022. In November of the same year, the device was installed in Poland, in April 2023 – in France, in June – in South Korea, and also received approval for use in China. In the spring of 2023, more than 1 thousand patients were treated with its help.
Zap Surgical Systems was founded by John Adler, a pioneer of radiosurgery and one of the inventors of the Cyberknife system, however, the Cyberknife turned out to be expensive to maintain and treat patients. As a result, the system did not receive mass distribution, being available only to large health care systems or patients who could pay for treatment. It is assumed that treatment with Zap-X should be cheaper for patients. The volume of attracted investments in the project amounted to $82.5 million, the company's revenue in 2023 is $13 million.
"R-Pharm" is a system-forming Russian company, a manufacturer and supplier of original medicines, as well as a distributor and supplier of laboratory and diagnostic medical equipment. Supply of linear accelerators is not a new industry for the holding. Among the company's assets is RTT Factory LLC, which in 2019 localized the production of three types of American Varian accelerators in Dubna, Moscow Region. Since 2022, RTT Factory has supplied more than 30 accelerators to Russian clinics. By the end of 2023, the company planned to install a TrueBeam accelerator in an oncology clinic in Omsk, in 2024 it intends to conclude at least 10 contracts for the supply of Halcyon accelerators.
In addition to medical equipment for the treatment of cancer patients, the holding is engaged in the supply of diagnostic medical equipment. For a long time, "R-Pharm" was engaged in the distribution of Canon Medical System heavy medical equipment and even planned the localization of production in Russia. In April 2024, R-Pharm introduced the QuantumEye 789 computer tomograph (available in the 256/512-slice version) produced by the Chinese MinFound Medical Systems to the Russian market.
MRI manufacturers will be required to provide access to the software of the devices
According to the FAS of Russia, both medical organizations and their service contractors should have keys and passwords.
In the service's report, it is indicated that the initiative is now at the stage of "developing approaches to the regulation of relations between manufacturers and purchasers of MRI."
Source: https://fas.gov.ru/attachment/768887/download?1717747069
Other
The first state-run physiotherapy clinic based on artificial intelligence (AI) will open in Great Britain
In 2024, the National Health Service of Great Britain will launch the first virtual clinic based on AI technology from the Flok Health startup, the Guardian reports. The point is that consulting patients with various pain in the virtual clinic will primarily be not a person, but an AI-bot.
SMI writes that this pilot project with Flok Health is the first case of launching a similar project in the public health sector.
There are details in the Kommersant article about the use of AI in healthcare. Patients with complaints of pain in the back, legs, arms, or anything related to the musculoskeletal system can contact the service directly through the application or through a referral from a local therapist. A person writes his problems to the AI-bot, it asks clarifying questions, analyzes the data received from the patient in real time, checks the medical history, if any, and gives recommendations for treatment, pain relief, performing therapeutic exercises, etc. If the problem with which the patient applied cannot be solved by physiotherapy, the AI-bot redirects the patient to the necessary specialist.
According to the media, according to the results of Flok Health testing, four out of five patients reported an improvement in their condition after following the recommendations of the chatbot. 92% of patients were referred for physiotherapy, another 5% were recommended to see therapists.
It is important that the appointment of the "AI doctor" took place on the same day and time when the patient needs a consultation, and not when the specialist has a free "window" for an appointment. And the development copes with the main task — to reduce queues for receiving medical care in the field of physical therapy and to reduce the burden on ordinary doctors. We are looking forward to the reviews of English people on different reddits about using Flock Health for back pain.
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