CLEVELAND, March 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleveland
HeartLab Inc. (CHL), the premier cardiovascular disease management
company, today announced a pioneering new partnership with SK
Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), one of the largest information
and communications technology companies in Asia, to bring CHL's innovative inflammation
tests for identification and prevention of heart disease to the
growing number of patients who are at risk of cardiovascular
disease (CVD) in China. One in five adults in China, approximately 230 million people, have
risk for CVD.
This new partnership builds on SK Telecom's commitment to
entering the Chinese Healthcare market following the opening of SK
Telecom Healthcare R&D Center and VISTA-SK Medical Center in
Shenzhen. With growing needs for quality healthcare services
in China, SK Telecom selected
China as a key target market for
its healthcare business and plans to expand its presence in other
major cities across the country.
"Partnering with SK Telecom, a world renowned company that is
investing heavily in healthcare in China, is an ideal opportunity for CHL that
will provide quicker and broader access to CHL's unique and
valuable testing to a large patient population in need of better
risk identification," said Jake
Orville, CEO of Cleveland HeartLab.
As the premier provider of inflammation testing within
North America, bringing its novel
and valuable test menu and product pipeline to large international
markets in need of better identification of CVD is a key strategic
priority. Last year, CHL received the international quality
standard, ISO 13485 designation and achievement of CE marking for
its Universal MPO test. Both are important staples of CHL's
commitment to delivering high quality testing to international
markets. These benchmarks dramatically increased access for
patients around the globe to CHL's valuable inflammation
testing.
CHL's testing has been recognized in hundreds of peer-reviewed
publications as a key measure of vascular health and
inflammation. A peer-reviewed study in Journal of
Economics demonstrated the economic impact of CHL's testing by
adverting 10 percent of heart attacks and strokes, which can save
approximately $190 million per 1
million people in a typical U.S. population.
"CHL's unique tests will be greatly valued by medical
professionals as people are increasingly concerned with disease
prevention. SK Telecom's expertise and experience in China combined with CHL's tests will lead to
rapid market penetration by offering Chinese people a reliable tool
to assess their risk for CVD and proactively address their
condition," said Yook Tae-sun, EVP
and head of New Business Division at SK Telecom.
In China today, about 230
million people—20 percent of all adults—now have cardiovascular
disease1. As of 2010, 154.8 per 100,000 deaths per year
are estimated to be associated with CVD in the urban areas of
China. That number is even larger,
163.1/100,000 deaths, in rural areas.
This CVD epidemic in China is
projected to worsen. Annual CVD events are predicted to
increase by 50 percent between 2010 and 2030 based on population
aging and growth. While fewer Chinese are smoking, diabetes is
rapidly rising. Projected trends in blood pressure, total
cholesterol, diabetes and active smoking are projected to increase
annual CVD events by an additional 23 percent to 7.7 million CVD
deaths by 2030.
About SK Telecom
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is
Korea's largest telecommunications company with more than 26
million mobile subscribers, accounting for around 50 percent of the
market. The company reached KRW 17.137
trillion in revenue in 2015. As the world's first company to
commercialize CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK
Telecom launched the nation's first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world's
first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2014 through Carrier Aggregation
(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards the
next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully
commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA. As of the end of
December 2015, the company has over
18.98 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its
strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new
growth engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle
Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service
Platform. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com or
email skt_press@sk.com.
About Cleveland HeartLab
Cleveland HeartLab Inc. is the premier cardiovascular disease
(CVD) Management Company with a comprehensive array of proprietary
tests focused on improving the early identification of those with
CVD risk. In addition to its industry leading approach to
inflammation testing, CHL manages a robust R&D program to
accelerate the clinical use of scientifically proven and medically
relevant biomarkers. CHL's biomarkers have been validated in more
than 100 peer-review studies published in leading medical and
scientific journals. Formed in 2009 as a spin-off from the
Cleveland Clinic, CHL offers its testing to thousands of leading
clinicians focused on health and wellness as well as corporate
wellness plans through its CAP-accredited and CLIA-certified
clinical lab. Half of all patients who suffer from heart attack
have normal cholesterol. With the goal of improving CVD risk
assessment, CHL's unique testing provides a more complete picture
of CVD risk allowing clinicians to deploy personalized medical
programs and interventions to reduce the overall risk of CVD, with
a specific focus on reducing the risks of inflammation. In a 2015
Journal of Medical Economics study on the economic impact of
CHL's core inflammation tests, CHL's CVD management protocol
demonstrated the potential to avoid nearly 10 percent of heart
attacks and strokes for patients of average health. The cost of
care averted was estimated to exceed $187
million. CHL holds over 20 issued and 30 pending global
patents and has been recognized for its innovation with the
prestigious Nortech Innovation Award, The Ohio Venture of the Year
Award and the Edison Crystal Award
for Excellence. CHL was also named an "Inc. 5,000" company in
recognition of its innovation and growth. For more information
about CHL visit us at www.clevelandheartlab.com. For more
information on CVD visit www.knowyourrisk.com.
References:
1) Hua Li &JunboGe, Cardiovascular diseases in China: Current status and future perspectives;
IJC Heart & Vasculature 6 (2015) 25–31.
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SOURCE Cleveland HeartLab Inc.