Introducing Merck for Health winners

KronosDNA, Next Capodarco and Pedius are the names of the companies winning the second edition of Merck for Health, the Hackathon devoted to health care and technological innovation.

The competition is promoted by Merck (company leader in the scientific and technology field) in collaboration with Healthlabs and Digital Magics Healthtech (the health-tech section of the well-known Italian business incubator).

Seventees teams competed inside the Caffé Letterario in Rome in order to develop ground-breaking projects specially focused on the following sectors: doctor-patient communication; effectiveness in the assistance of patients treated with growth hormone; improvement of the experience in fertility treatments; daily support for patients affected by multiple sclerosis; and multidisciplinary approach in the management of cancer patients.

First place went to the startup KronosDNA, which presented an innovative digital kit to diagnose genetic infertility in a couple. The prize received by the company consisted in 5.000 Euros and the opportunity to take part in the Innovation Festival (Dubai, November 20-26 2017). The company was also included in a business accelerator programme.

The second place went to Next Capodarco, presenting digital platform to fostering a continuous interaction between young patients with a deficit in growth hormones and their care givers. Finally, Pedius presented the project Louise, recognizing the voice of the patient and allowing a remote and rapid management of the patient's daily needs while under treatments. Both companies were given the chance to go to the Frontiers Health Conference 2017 (Berlin, November 16-17) and to be included in a business incubator programme.

The different innovative projects presented during this edition of Merck for Health were assessed by a jury of experts made up of Antonio Messina (Head of Merck pharmaceutical business in Italy), Giorgio Pinci (Merck Italy Commercial Director of biopharma operations), Munya Chivasa (Merck Germany Innovation Manager), Henry Zubaida (Merck ventures in the Netherlands) and Roberto Ascione (entrepreneur, international opinion leader and partner of Digital Magics).

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