Longenesis teams up with Novartis for digital heart care innovation

Longenesis, a Latvian start-up supported by EIT Health, has announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Daugavpils Regional Hospital (DRH) and the international pharmaceutical company Novartis Baltics, to launch a pilot project in Latvia for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

The project aims to create a dynamic digital registry for heart failure and dyslipidemia patients, enhancing risk group identification and enabling timely treatment. Patient enrolment is set to begin at Daugavpils Regional Hospital in early 2025.

Longenesis is a leading digital health start-up in the Baltics. Their mission is to accelerate therapies’ time to patients through cross-border re-use of health data. With a proven track record working with healthcare providers, Life Science companies, the EU and the Middle East, and governmental initiatives, they’ve empowered 850,000+ patients in 10 therapeutic areas in EMEA.

Their new project – digital registry for heart failure and dyslipidemia patients, will securely collect data from multiple information systems into a regularly updated patient overview panel for doctors. This dynamic patient monitoring option will enable doctors to track changes in the patient’s condition, reflecting their current risk factors, thus improving the quality and timeliness of treatment.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death in the European Union, accounting for approximately 1.8 million deaths annually, which represents 37% of all deaths in the region. The burden of CVD is significant across Europe, with an even higher proportion of deaths (45%) attributed to CVD in the broader European region, encompassing EU and non-EU countries.[1] While advances in treatment and prevention have led to declines in CVD mortality in many countries, the overall societal and economic impact remains profound. The EU incurs an annual economic cost of €210 billion due to CVD, stemming from healthcare expenses, productivity losses, and informal care.[2]

Emil Syundyukov, Co-Founder and CEO of Longenesis points out that the dynamic patient registry is just the beginning of broader changes in the healthcare system: “Countries all over the world are facing challenges in the field of cardiovascular diseases, so our goal is to use the success of this project as a stepping stone to scale such solutions in the Baltics and Europe.”

In 2023, the Riga-based start-up participated in the EIT Health Catapult programme, winning second place in the Digital Health category and an Industry Award by Amazon Web Services. In its eight edition so far, EIT Health Catapult has supported over 330 companies, with many closing multi-million euro investment rounds after participating.

“Being part of the EIT Health Community has provided us with an excellent platform to build new partnerships and allowed us to share our philosophy and solutions with a wider audience. Our approach enables healthcare institutions to transition from being data donors to becoming co-creators of health data alongside their patients,” says Emīls Sjundjukovs, co-founder and CEO of Longenesis.

To date, Longenesis has raised around €2 million in investments, including US$1.2 million from Racoonstruction, a fund that invests in artificial intelligence and big data companies, and biotech venture capital fund LongeVC.

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[1] Fact Sheets for Press: CVD in Europe and ESC Congress figures. ESC European Society of Cardiology  [Internet]. Available from: https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Advocacy/understanding-the-burden-of-cvd-facts-and-figures.

[2] Understanding the burden of CVD. ESC European Society of Cardiology  [Internet]. Available from: https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Advocacy/understanding-the-burden-of-cvd-facts-and-figures