Top Danish politicians were excited when testing their own biomarkers with Egoo
The home diagnostic device from Danish start-up Qlife can make the lives of patients with chronic diseases easier. This is the way forward towards a more human centered public health sector, says one politician after having tested her own biomarkers.
For an ambitious life science start-up, it is always exciting to have real people testing your health product. For Danish start-up Qlife their home diagnostic device Egoo was really put to the test, when their subjects were two of the most influential Danish politicians in the health sector, namely the Danish Minister of Health and the Chairman of the Regional Council of the Capital Region, which manages all the hospitals in and around Copenhagen.
Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke and Chairman of the Regional Council of the Capital Region Sophie Hæstorp volunteered to have their biomarkers tested for inflammation, and they were really excited about the experience and the possibilities, that Egoo promises people suffering from chronic diseases.
The tests were done at the launch of a partnership between the Danish public health sector and the life science sector designed to boost future health solutions by supporting innovative healthcare procurement. The partnership was announced at the Herlev Hospital, which is home to a project targeting kidney cancer. Qlife’s home diagnostic device Egoo will play an important role in the project by making it possible for the very ill patients to measure selected biomarkers at home rather than being transported to a hospital. The Egoo app will then send the measurements to the relevant doctors.
Discreet and easy but with a second of pain
“If I had a chronic illness, this would make my life a lot easier by not having to go to a blood sampling site somewhere in the region and maybe wait for hours. This is discreet and easy – and I can surely live with the second of pain,” said Sophie Hæstorp with a laugh after having Egoo measure her biomarkers via a single drop of blood.
Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke was assisted by Qlife CEO Thomas Warthoe, when he tested his biomarkers, and the minister was obviously inspired by the test: “This is a really clever gadget. What a great job you’ve done here. This was so exciting to me, not just getting the result, but also trying the device out. It was a pleasure,” the minister remarked to Thomas Warthoe.
A more human centered health secotr
The five Danish Regional Councils will in total spend around 114 billion Danish Kroner on the public health sector this year. Making it possible to spend more of that money on new innovative solutions sits perfectly with Sophie Hæstorp’s strategy.
“At the Regional Council of the Capital Region our ambition is for us to have a more human centered health system. That means, that you have to have room to be human, to do something for your family and if possible, go to work or have an education even though you suffer from a chronic illness,” she says and continues:
“Reducing the need to go to our hospitals or meet with a doctor allows you to concentrate on all the other things that ought to matter most in your life. Today’s example is the way forward in this direction, especially since you can test for several biomarkers with one device, so you don’t need an entire army of instruments standing around at home, but can adapt to your individual needs. It really is the way forward,” says Sophie Hæstorp.
Launching the new partnership was also the Danish Minister of Economic and Business Affairs Simon Kollerup who followed his colleagues’ use of the Egoo device.
“Today we have seen an example of how our welfare society can actually get better and better, and at the same time we can make investments and help create new businesses. This is the way forward where we can use public procurement systems much more innovatively and use them in a way, where the solutions are made by the private companies, and where it on the other hand improves our health and our welfare society,” says Simon Kollerup.
It is still early days in the partnership on kidney cancer project at Herlev Hospital, but stay tuned for more news on this exciting project, where Egoo can really make a difference.