Cekura Launches Cooperation with Aarhus Municipality on Smart Medication Solution.

An increasing focus on telehealth solutions in the public sector in Denmark was one of the key reasons why the US telehealth monitoring company CST-LTL decided to open a subsidiary in Denmark. Now the Danish company Cekura entered its first agreement with a Danish municipality on a project on remote medication.

“I am very pleased to launch this new cooperation with the Municipality of Aarhus and I am convinced that we will intensify our joint projects with public partners here in Denmark in the years to come,” says CEO of Cekura Peter Thomsen to Invest in Denmark.

The new project will enable the users to take their daily medicine without intervention from the care staff, as the system releases medication and reminds the patient with an alarm. If the medication is not taken, the device automatically calls the care centre which will ensure that medication is taken.

Today the staff must visit many of the elderly several times a day to ensure that medicine is taken in the right amount and at the right time. This is not only very costly for the municipality; it is also a large intervention in the lives of the elderly. Through the new electronic medication device, the elderly regain their independency, and only if an irregularity is reported the care personnel will pay a visit. According to Cekura, compliance goes up to nearly 98% with this medication solution and the number of doctor and hospital visits decreases as a direct result.

The investments behind Cekura are backed by the leading telehealth monitoring companies in the US through the investment group Universal Investors. Two years ago they found that Denmark would be an interesting market for expansion, because of the aging population and a focus from the government on increasing ehealth and monitoring solutions to keep elderly and disabled people in their homes.

“We are building on a lot of experience from the US and identified not only a significant market potential in Denmark, but also the right framework conditions and openness towards public-private cooperation, which gives us a good business case,” said Ira Berkowitz, CSA from Life Station Inc.

Denmark is currently developing 8 super hospitals where the use of ehealth solutions like telemedicine will play a major role to improve healthcare at reduced costs.

Invest in Denmark has assisted Cekura all the way, Life Science Team Leader Tine Hartmann says: “Danish citizens are early adapters in regard to new technologies and the free healthcare system forms the perfect base for user-centered product development and testing of new products. We hope that in a longer perspective, Cekura will use their Danish presence also for R&D, as this is a field where we have a lot to offer.”

While Cekura is developing their business in Denmark and expects to broaden the range of public cooperation partners, the office in Copenhagen is also used as a bridgehead to other Nordic markets. Currently a cooperation deal with several Swedish municipalities is being negotiated and according to Cekura CEO Peter Thomsen, Norway also holds an interesting market potential.