Medo

Medo (Medo.ai) was a Singapore-based health technology company that combined artificial intelligence, 3D reconstruction and cloud computing to simplify the acquisition and interpretation of ultrasound images. Its stated aim was to make ultrasound function as "the stethoscope of the 21st century" by removing the requirement for a radiologist or trained sonographer to be present during a scan. The company cited World Health Organisation figures that nearly two-thirds of the world's population lacks access to basic medical imaging, and framed its product as a way to extend imaging to frontline workers such as family physicians, emergency room doctors and ambulance staff.

The core technique took 2D ultrasound images captured from different angles and reconstructed them into a 3D model of the anatomy, which the system then compared against thousands of prior cases to produce a suggested diagnosis. The company offered a web-based architecture in which clinicians could view and analyse images directly, including images acquired at remote healthcare centres. Medo's first and most advanced module addressed developmental dysplasia of the hip in infants. Additional use cases under development included detection and characterisation of thyroid nodules and early detection of masses and inflammation in the liver, for which data collection, labelling and validation had been completed as of the January 2020 interview.

During the Covid-19 pandemic Medo released Medo Lung, an algorithm trained to inspect lung ultrasounds for abnormalities indicating the severity of possible Covid-19 infection or pneumonia. The company presented this as an alternative to CT scanning, which involves radiation, patient transport out of the ward and machine sanitisation between uses; with Medo Lung a clinician could scan at the bedside with a handheld probe, upload to the cloud and receive results in seconds, supporting triage of patients by severity.

Founding story

Medo was co-founded by Dornoosh Zonoobi with radiologists Jeevesh Kapur and Jacob Jaremko; David Quail is also described in a 2021 interview as a co-founder. Zonoobi completed a PhD in medical machine learning at the National University of Singapore and accumulated over a decade of research experience in medical imaging. While working in a hospital radiology department in Edmonton, Canada, helping radiologists scan babies for hip dysplasia, she observed patients travelling thousands of kilometres, sometimes by helicopter, for a simple scan, and concluded that access to medical imaging was limited and centralised. That observation, combined with the portability and low cost of modern ultrasound probes relative to the expertise needed to interpret their output, led to the founding of the company.

Business model

Medo sold software rather than hardware, positioning its analysis layer as device-independent so it could work alongside existing and handheld ultrasound probes. Clinicians captured images at the point of care, uploaded them to Medo's cloud, and received analysis back, which allowed the company to serve remote healthcare centres without local imaging expertise or on-premise infrastructure.

As described in January 2020, the company expected that after FDA clearance the majority of its revenue would come from fee-per-study software licences, offered either as perpetual one-time licences or as software-as-a-service subscriptions.

Traction

Four multi-centre clinical studies confirmed the accuracy of the 3D surface models for hip dysplasia, drawing on more than 5,300 hip scans collected over five years in four countries; the technology detected developmental dysplasia of the hip more accurately than 2D scans with 75 percent fewer inconclusive cases, and a later study reported reliability with novice users. Two additional studies formed part of product verification and validation ahead of an FDA submission. A three-year efficacy and accuracy trial was completed in July 2017 and a University of Alberta trial with inexperienced operators began in 2018. Medo Lung was in regulatory approval processes and under trial with Canadian hospitals and clinics as of 2021.

Latest developments

A medical startup directory entry for MEDO.ai states that Exo acquired Medo AI. Prior public coverage documents Medo Lung being trialled in Canada and supported by the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative.