Finnish health tech startups:
Roughly one in every 11 people in the United States and Europe is currently living with asthma. However, many asthmatics could manage their asthma way better than they do now. Consistent, guided self-care can improve the quality of life for millions of people, believes Helsinki startup KAMU Health.
KAMU Health was started around the notion that patients living with asthma, COPD and other respiratory conditions deserve an equal opportunity for digital therapeutics and remote care in contrast to patients with other chronic conditions.With good care, most asthmatics can lead a secure and balanced life, points out Seppo Salorinne, one of the three co-founders at KAMU Health.“The biggest problem right now is that the people diagnosed with asthma are not motivated to take care of themselves – or do not fully understand what that care entails,” he says.
Driven by data
But what if you were able to provide people with accurate information about what is going on in their bodies that they don’t know about – and what impact treatment has on their systems? – This way the people can get a better handle of their condition and improve their health.“Armed with information, people can become the best authority on their asthma,” says Salorinne.
If it’s not easy and convenient, you’re just not going to manage your asthma consistently.
It all starts with monitoring the lungs regularly and taking your treatment medication as agreed with your doctor in your Asthma Action Plan. At this point, KAMU Health wants to step in to make your asthma management as easy and effortless as possible.Salorinne explains that the KAMU concept was designed to be “maximum user-friendly” for largely motivational reasons:“If it’s not easy and convenient, you’re just not going to do it consistently.”
Home test is best?
Under the concept, you can test your lung function at home with a hospital-grade mobile spirometer. It’s safe, easy and quick: just turn KAMU Spiro on and exhale through the mouthpiece.“With this single test, the end user receives his or her FEV1, FEV1/FEV6, FVC and PEF values. The spirometry results are saved in KAMU Spiro’s memory until they are uploaded to the KAMU Asthma app, where they can be viewed at any time,” Salorinne takes us through the process.And the best part: You can take a spirometry test anywhere, there’s no need to go to a clinic or a hospital to test your lungs.“Regular testing helps detect small trend changes which are typically hard to detect using traditional peak flow measurements and enables users, in many cases, to adjust their medication early before the onset of symptoms,” Salorinne says.
Trending up
Similarly, the KAMU Asthma app goes wherever you go with your smartphone. The end user is able to track asthma symptoms, triggers and use of medication with a quick questionnaire as well as check spirometry results and the trend view.“By keeping an eye on your trends, you can even learn to predict changes and take action before symptoms occur,” Salorinne says.In addition to being an advanced asthma tracker, the app also provides the user with a local weather and air quality forecast, so that you can prepare for the day and maybe try to avoid areas with the most triggering conditions.“KAMU Asthma also helps you collaborate better with your healthcare professionals. You can easily download reports from the app and share them with your doctor or nurse”, Salorinne adds.For healthcare providers, KAMU provides an HL7/FHIR based integration option and a cloud service for telehealth use cases.Seppo Salorinne, CEO and Co-Founder of KAMU Health
Getting started
KAMU Health has its origins in discussions Salorinne had with his father, Professor Yrjö Salorinne, a true healthcare veteran, already years ago.“He kept telling me that chronic respiratory conditions should be approached with the same level of seriousness as diabetes and that solutions targeting asthma aren’t really suited for the patients,” Seppo Salorinne looks back at the conversation that started around 2015.“I was skeptical of what he was saying at first, but then did some research into the matter and had to agree: nobody had really considered the people living with asthma. We decided to do something about this and started the company.”With Seppo Salorinne assuming the duties of the CEO, the senior Salorinne became the Chairman of the Board for the startup. What’s more, the entire KAMU team is loaded with PhD level talent.
KAMU Health Facts
Name: KAMU HealthProduct: KAMU Asthma®, an evidence-based, medical-grade service for people with asthmaFounded: 2017Team size: 7Target customer/market: People with asthma around the world
Finland: Valuable launch pad
Since its foundation in 2017, the KAMU team has put together a high-quality, CE-marked service that helps people with chronic respiratory conditions monitor their lung condition and collaborate better with their healthcare professionals.“We launched our app in the spring 2019 and our KAMU cloud went online last year, improving integration of all data.”Finland, with its invaluable experience from the National Asthma Programme that ran between 1994 and 2004, has been a great development market for the company. The local health & wellbeing ecosystem is strong, allowing startups to reach new heights together.“Having somebody like Health Capital Helsinki bring smaller players together – and push them onwards – is very significant from the perspective of the entire ecosystem,” Salorinne says.Watch Seppo Salorinne tell about KAMU Health at Health Capital Helsinki’s Health TV show on digital care pathways in June 2020. You can watch the whole event here. Text: Sami J. Anteroinen
Cover photo: Riku Pihlanto / City of Helsinki
Photos: KAMU HealthBy Health Capital Helsinki
