The Swedish Start-Up Aiming To Conquer America's Full-Body-Scan Craze (nytimes.com) 23
An anonymous reader quotes a report from DealBook: Fifteen years ago, Daniel Ek broke into America's digital-content wars with his streaming music start-up, Spotify, which has turned into a publicly traded company with a $110 billion market value. Now he and his business partner, the Swedish entrepreneur Hjalmar Nilsonne, aim to crack a higher-stakes consumer market: American health care. The pair plan to bring Neko Health, the health tech start-up they founded in 2018, to New York this spring, DealBook is first to report.
Mr. Ek and Mr. Nilsonne hope to capitalize on the growing number of prevention-minded Americans who are hungry to track their biometric data. Whether through wearables like Oura rings or more intensive screenings, consumers are turning to technology to improve their health and help spot the early onset of some big killers, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The United States will be the third market, after Sweden and Britain, for Neko Health, which offers full-body diagnostic scans and is valued at roughly $1.7 billion.
[...] Mr. Nilsonne and Mr. Ek said Neko Health's big aim was to change the health care model, in which spending across much of the developed world skyrockets but longevity gains have stalled. They want to make their noninvasive scans as routine as an annual checkup. The company, which advertises its service as "a health check for your future self," did not say what the U.S. scans would cost. But in Stockholm, an hourlong visit at one of its clinics costs 2,750 Swedish krona (about $300). Prenuvo's and Ezra's most comprehensive scans can cost $3,999.
[...] Neko Health's technology differs from that of many of its U.S. rivals. It does not use M.R.I. or X-rays, instead relying on scores of sensors and cameras and a mix of proprietary and off-the-shelf technologies to measure heart function and circulation, and to photograph and map every inch of a patient's body looking for cancerous lesions. At the moment, the company's biggest challenge is scaling.
[...] Mr. Nilsonne said Neko Health scans have detected the early onset of diseases or serious medical conditions for thousands of its patients. But the medical community is divided on the need for proactive screening technologies. The fear is that mass adoption could spur a wave of false positives and send healthy people to seek follow-up medical advice, overwhelming an already swamped health care system. Mr. Ek and Mr. Nilsonne believe they have built a better solution. And now they're ready to test it in the U.S. market.
Mr. Ek and Mr. Nilsonne hope to capitalize on the growing number of prevention-minded Americans who are hungry to track their biometric data. Whether through wearables like Oura rings or more intensive screenings, consumers are turning to technology to improve their health and help spot the early onset of some big killers, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The United States will be the third market, after Sweden and Britain, for Neko Health, which offers full-body diagnostic scans and is valued at roughly $1.7 billion.
[...] Mr. Nilsonne and Mr. Ek said Neko Health's big aim was to change the health care model, in which spending across much of the developed world skyrockets but longevity gains have stalled. They want to make their noninvasive scans as routine as an annual checkup. The company, which advertises its service as "a health check for your future self," did not say what the U.S. scans would cost. But in Stockholm, an hourlong visit at one of its clinics costs 2,750 Swedish krona (about $300). Prenuvo's and Ezra's most comprehensive scans can cost $3,999.
[...] Neko Health's technology differs from that of many of its U.S. rivals. It does not use M.R.I. or X-rays, instead relying on scores of sensors and cameras and a mix of proprietary and off-the-shelf technologies to measure heart function and circulation, and to photograph and map every inch of a patient's body looking for cancerous lesions. At the moment, the company's biggest challenge is scaling.
[...] Mr. Nilsonne said Neko Health scans have detected the early onset of diseases or serious medical conditions for thousands of its patients. But the medical community is divided on the need for proactive screening technologies. The fear is that mass adoption could spur a wave of false positives and send healthy people to seek follow-up medical advice, overwhelming an already swamped health care system. Mr. Ek and Mr. Nilsonne believe they have built a better solution. And now they're ready to test it in the U.S. market.
we love metrics (Score:2)
More than we love affordable healthcare!
MRI is cheap! (Score:2)
Re:MRI is cheap! (Score:4, Insightful)
They are reluctant about it because false positives.
That is, if you go and get a full body scan, they will find something 'suspicious'. You never pay just the $1,000, because they have to test the suspicious thyroid nodule, the mole that might be cancer, the cyst that might be cancer, and that brain aneurysms that turns out to be harmless.
Over 90% of suspicious breast lumps found using an MRI turn out to be harmless.
More importantly, it does not detect Heart disease, high blood pressure, high chlorestal, Diabetes, or Alzheimers (some of the leading causes of death).
This technique makes money for hospitals, costs a ton of money, makes people worry excessively, and will save a life less often than once in a thousand times.
That money is better spent on approving tests that Health Insurance companies rejected.
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That is, if you go and get a full body scan, they will find something 'suspicious'. You never pay just the $1,000, because they have to test the suspicious thyroid nodule, the mole that might be cancer, the cyst that might be cancer, and that brain aneurysms that turns out to be harmless.
Well, yes. And? Just do a follow-up scan in 1 year. I did a Prenuvo scan 2 years ago, and they did find suspicious cysts (I knew about them, actually). They flagged them and recommended a followup in 2 years. I also did that and it found nothing.
Basically, we just need need follow-up criteria for the MRI images. When they are used diagnostically, and not to just solemnly confirm a terminal cancer.
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Well, yes. And? Just do a follow-up scan in 1 year.
That's not how cancer prevention works. Cancer development rates for "suspicious" things need to be tested ASAP, 1 year later you're likely to find yourself experiencing very expensive, potentially painful or life threatening treatments. There's a reason why cancer diagnosis looks at something else before going for an MRI and if anything is found it is frequently biopsied with great haste.
I did a Prenuvo scan 2 years ago, and they did find suspicious cysts (I knew about them, actually). They flagged them and recommended a followup in 2 years. I also did that and it found nothing.
Sorry to break the bad news but you got scammed.
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That's not how cancer prevention works. Cancer development rates for "suspicious" things need to be tested ASAP, 1 year later you're likely to find yourself experiencing very expensive, potentially painful or life threatening treatments.
So it's totally better to just wait until the cancer gets to stage 4 and then do an MRI to confirm it. Big brain. Much smart.
In reality, plenty of cancers are slow-growing and take years to spread. And of course, for more concerning cases, there needs to be a quicker follow-up. For example, another MRI in a month.
Sorry to break the bad news but you got scammed.
I meant that they found nothing alarming. The cysts are still there and unchanged.
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So it's totally better to just wait until the cancer gets to stage 4 and then do an MRI to confirm it. Big brain. Much smart.
No. It's totally better to understand and listen to your body and follow a standard medical process to identify cancers early including specific screening. This isn't my brain or my smarts that you're challenging, it's the entire basis for the medical industry.
All "preventative" full body scans do is provide nightmare fuel for hypochondriacs. There's no evidence that they provide any meaningful outcome for patients other than reduce the mass of muscles used to lift your wallet.
If you feel ill, go to the doc
Re: MRI is cheap! (Score:2)
Lots of symptoms are nebulous about the root cause. Probabilities may be low for specific things like pancreatic cancer, but ultimately thats little consolation for someone who is diagnosed with Stage 4. Playing the odds like that is a mistake - get the scans, have a frank discussion about the risk with the doctor. Monitor/follow up with noninvasive scans if available and biopsies if not. Those things combined are cheaper for each individual than an early likely preventable death in suffering from cancer th
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After an earlier burst appendix and subsequent (I think - no medical conclusion of course) hernias, I took so many CT scans I should have been turned into the Incredible Hulk (X
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FTFY (Score:2)
"Mr. Ek and Mr. Nilsonne hope to capitalize on the growing number of gullible Americans who are willing to give away their valuable biometric data."
We'll put you in a crime scene--for free! (Score:2)
Speaking as an oldfart... (Score:2)
Americans (Score:1)
The generally-least-healthy people on the planet willing to spend any amount of money to be healthy.... Except diet and exercise.
I need to get into health & wellness industry (Score:2)
Re: I need to get into health & wellness indus (Score:2)
What about the treatment for the pancreatic beta cell sucking parasite Im now hearing about in online ads?
Worthless snake oil (Score:3)
This doesn't even use MRI or CT. It's just a magical hodgepodge of "sensors" and photos.
Complete waste of time and money.
It will miss anything important and lead to more expense chasing down false positives.
Modern snake oil.
Wait, so this so-called scan (Score:3)
I totally get the usefulness of a full body MRI or CT scan, or even something low res like a DEXA scan. Yeah, there are issues with false positives, but thats real internal data that could reveal something that a standard doctor office visit could miss.
This is no better than a visit to you GP plus a skin inspection by a dermatologist. And they want to charge near-MRI-scan prices for this. What a great deal. For the business owner, that is.
To me, this has vibes of a âoespa dayâ for men (I assume this will be used by mostly men) combined with a photo shoot. Im sure the cameras are AI controlled, so Im picturing a guy surrounded by multiple cameras with an AI voiceover âoeoh yeah, awesome, lookin great, turn over this way and tilt your head and look at the camera, oh yea that is *money* baby!â
No factual support for this snake-oil diagnostic a (Score:2)