RecensMedical Inc., a UNIST-based faculty startup company founded by Professor Gun-Ho Kim (School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering), has been selected as the representative corporate support program by various government agencies and has secured 10 billion KRW worth of guarantees and investments. And thus, the success of its rapid cooling anesthesia devices and precision-controlled cooling treatment products has been ensured.
On May 4, the company announced that it has been selected as the ‘3rd Innovation Icon Support Program’ by the Korea Credit Gurantee Fund (KODIT). This is a scale-up program to discover innovative startups that could grow into unicorn companies and provide them with the customized services, such as overseas market advancement, labor consulting, and business linkages between their affiliates, along with the support of 10 billion KRW worth of guarantees.
Over 216 startups entered the competition, but only 5 were selected. The competition ratio for this year’s recruitment has been 43: 1 and RecensMedical Inc. is the only local business selected.
RecensMedical Inc.’s overseas expansion has gained momentum with this selection. l Image Credit: Kyoungchae Kim
In addition to this, RecensMedical Inc. has been named one of the promising small and medium-sized venture companies in the so-called BIG3 sectors by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS). The companies selected will receive up to 10 bllion KRW in policy funds from the government, including 1.2 billion KRW in commercialization and R&D funding over the next three years.
This project selects small and medium-sized venture companies with growth potential in the BIG3 sectors, namely system semiconductors, bio-health and future cars to support R&D and commercialization. In the first round of recruitment, a total of 98 companies were selected, of which 61 were bio-health. RecensMedical Inc. has been listed among the 18 medical device companies in that list.
Founded in 2016, RecensMedical Inc. has been engaged in developing the next generation of medical devices for the dermatological and ophthalmological markets. The company boasts a proprietary technology for its rapid cooling anesthesia for not only the painless intravitreal injection therapy and the standard care for rapidly growing retinal diseases, but also painless laser therapies and needle injections in dermatology.
Demonstration of RecensMedical Inc.’s rapid cooling ophthalmological device. l Image Credit: Kyoungchae Kim
The company has announced that it has successfully completed the clinical trial of its rapid cooling anesthesia technology in the United States, and follow-up trials are currently underway. To date, two major ophthalmic specialty hospitals in the U.S. have performed 250 and over surgical procedures on 100 patients, which assured the effectiveness and satefy of this method. Besides, there are about 10 other U.S. hospitals for ophthalmology that have expressed their intention to participate in Phase III clinical trials and to purchase the device. The company is currently waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration to gain market access in the U.S.
Meanwhile, RecensMedical Inc. is the first venture company in Ulsan, supported by TIPS (Accelerator Investment-Driven Tech Incubator Program for Startups) of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS). In less than 6 months, it has once again been selected as the first U-TECH Valley company, making a new history of venture startups in Ulsan. The company has recently won commendation by the President of Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) at the 2019 Health Industry Performance Announcement and Exchange Meeting on October 31, 2019. On the same day, it also won the league championship at the ‘2019 IP Startup Road Day,’ hosted by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).
