By Matthew Brady Korean startup Mediwhale, founded in 2016, is redefining how we detect and prevent cardiovascular disease. Using retinal biomarkers and artificial intelligence, its flagship product, Dr. Noon CVD, can predict an individual’s risk of developing cardiovascular, renal, or metabolic (CVRM) disease — often before any symptoms appear.
In an interview with HealthTechAsia, co-founder and CEO Kevin Taegeun Choi shared how the company’s technology is addressing diagnostic blind spots left by conventional tests — and unveiled plans for an imminent launch in Saudi Arabia.
Launched in early 2025, Dr. Noon CVD is an AI-powered solution that assesses cardiovascular disease risk through a simple retinal scan. The process is fast and completely non-invasive: photographs of each eye are taken and uploaded to Mediwhale’s secure platform, where deep learning algorithms analyse the images to generate a detailed risk report.
“Cardiovascular disease is largely asymptomatic,” Choi began. “We can’t directly see blood vessels non-invasively. At best, we rely on indirect indicators — like ultrasound, cardiac CT, or measurements such as pulse wave velocity and intima-media thickness — to infer vascular health.
While these methods can provide some insight into atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk, their accuracy is limited, making clinical decision-making difficult. Blood tests offer additional information, but their results can fluctuate over time.”
“CT scans are accurate,” he continued, “but they expose patients to radiation, require hospital visits, and aren’t always accessible. Our solution delivers the same diagnostic insights — but without radiation or risk — by visualising blood vessels directly through the retina.”
Dr. Noon CVD classifies patients into cardiovascular risk groups using American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines, based on coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores: Low risk: CAC score of 0; Moderate risk: CAC score of 1–99; and High risk: CAC score of 100 or above.
“We benchmarked our AI against this same system,” Choi explained. “Using a five-year follow-up dataset, we tracked actual cardiovascular events and found our wet-lab-based solution matched the predictive accuracy of cardiac CT — but without radiation, harm, or the typical accessibility barriers.”
Strategic shift toward metaboblic specialists
“Initially, we thought optometrists would be our main users,” Choi shared. “But we’ve since learned that cardiovascular risk is deeply linked with metabolic syndrome — which means our key users are actually primary care physicians, endocrinologists, family doctors, and cardiologists. We’ve updated our go-to-market strategy accordingly.”
Choi added, “We also provide doctors with a personalised patient report — including a cardiovascular score, risk category, and percentile comparison to peer groups. The report includes follow-up recommendations and specific lifestyle guidance. Right now, doctors share these with patients, but we plan to enable direct-to-patient reports in the near future.”
Lives saved in Korea and Dubai
Choi presented several compelling case studies from hospitals in Korea and Dubai, demonstrating real-world impact.
“One patient was a 67-year-old woman with diabetes and hyperlipidemia,” Choi recalled. ““Our AI flagged her as high-risk for cardiovascular disease. Her ECG showed signs suggestive of a possible myocardial infarction, and she was referred to a cardiology clinic for further evaluation.”
Another case involved a 44-year-old male with diabetes and obesity, identified as low-risk. “His doctor began a weight management program using Saxenda before starting statins — a strategic, preventive approach made possible by the data,” said Choi.
Perhaps most striking was a 40-year-old woman who visited an ophthalmology clinic for retinal vascular occlusion. “Our scan flagged her as high-risk. A cardiologist then discovered 80% coronary artery stenosis — despite no symptoms. She was at serious risk of sudden cardiac death. Early detection likely saved her life. It’s a meaningful case for us.”
Other cases from Dubai confirmed the solution’s global relevance. One 60-year-old man with prediabetes had a CAC score over 200, which according to Choi typically indicates a high risk of coronary artery disease. He was diagnosed with the condition and underwent successful angioplasty.”
In another instance, a 46-year-old male with prediabetes had a CAC score of zero — typically considered low risk based on cardiac CT — but Dr. Noon CVD identified him as high risk. Advanced testing revealed severe coronary artery disease, and he too received life-saving treatment.
“In this case, our AI caught what cardiac CT missed,” Choi noted. “Especially for early-stage, asymptomatic cases, our solution can offer even greater accuracy.”
Global expansion plans
With deployments in over 80 hospitals across Italy, the UK, Spain, the UAE, and South Korea, Mediwhale is now aiming to make Dr. Noon CVD the global standard in cardiovascular prevention.
“We believe our solution can play a vital role in primary care,” Choi said. “Ideally, it will become routine for everyone to undergo retinal screening and cardiovascular risk assessment using our technology.”
The company is actively rolling out Dr. Noon CVD across Italy’s Nefro Center, a medical network of 100 hospitals and over 1,000 specialists. Implementation is expected to continue throughout 2025.
In the Middle East, partnerships are already underway.
“We’re working closely with GluCare in Dubai,” Choi noted, “a clinic known for its collaborations with multinational pharma like Novo Nordisk and Dexcom. Their strong focus on diabetes care aligns perfectly with our mission.”
Mediwhale is also preparing to launch in Saudi Arabia, where it is currently securing Saudi FDA approval.
“We expect to enter the Kingdom later this year and start generating revenue in 2026,” Choi shared. “To support this, we’re partnering with a regional medical device distributor that specialises in cardiology.”
Expanding into kidney, liver, and brain health
As part of its long-term roadmap, Mediwhale is now expanding beyond cardiovascular disease.
“CVD doesn’t exist in isolation,” the co-founder said. “It’s connected to the kidneys, liver, lungs, brain, lymphatic system, and metabolism. Our goal is to understand these systems holistically to enable truly preventive care.”
The next product in the pipeline is focused on chronic kidney disease (CKD) prediction, followed by tools for cognitive decline and liver disease.
In addition to diagnostics, Mediwhale is pivoting toward proactive prevention — offering users tailored recommendations around exercise, diet, and lifestyle changes, based on their individual health profile.
“The future of healthcare isn’t just about knowing your risk,” Choi said. “It’s about doing something about it. This shift from detection to true prevention is a key part of our future development.”
A shift from cure to care
Looking ahead, Choi emphasised the need for a fundamental change in how the world approaches chronic disease.
“I believe we’re witnessing a major paradigm shift — from focusing solely on cure, to prioritising care and prevention,” he said. “Patients, physicians, and payers all recognise that prevention is more effective — and more sustainable — than late-stage interventions.”
“The key challenge now is how to detect disease signals as early as possible. That’s why we’ve seen the rise of continuous monitoring systems like wearable ECG or glucose trackers. But we still lack a widely accessible, accurate, and scalable test that can truly bridge the gap between high-frequency but low-quality data, and high-quality diagnostics like CT or MRI — which are expensive and not easy to access regularly.”
“Our solution offers that bridge,” Choi concluded. “It brings hospital-grade insight into primary care settings — making early detection not only possible, but practical. This is how we can build a more efficient, proactive healthcare system.”
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