Njord is pleased to announce the establishment of Njord Medtech Ltd, a first milestone entering into the UK&I market.
The accelerator program - Propel @ Yorkshire-Humber region - in early January was followed by the European MedTech Mission to the UK with NHS ConfedExpo in mid-June to lay the groundwork of the Njord Medtech establishment, together with the British Embassy in Stockholm.
The UK healthcare market with the National Health Service (NHS) has several characteristics similar to the Swedish healthcare system, in which Atle 180 has gained strong traction during its first year in commercial phase.
Size wise the UK market with its approx. 1300 hospitals is multifold to the Nordics. However, CT scanner penetration is well below the OECD average with 8.8 CT scanners per million population compared to an OECD average of 25.9. To this point, there are currently 1.6 million people waiting for diagnostic scans and the labour government has recently announced an extra £171 million per year for a ‘Fit For The Future Fund’, which will be used to purchase the latest technology and replace outdated equipment.
“Brexit surely has made it a bit more cumbersome for early scale-ups to enter the UK market. With good support from partners and local actors we have managed to prove a similar demand as in the Nordics for Atle® 180. With the incorporation and overarching agreement with the NHS in place we now look forward collaborating with a handful of local hospitals to drive diagnostic throughput.“ says Jacob Ahrnstein, CEO of Njord Medtech.