Salva Health wants to lower breast cancer mortality with its affordable screening device

Six years ago, while researching for a college entrepreneurship competition, Valentina Agudelo identified a troubling gap in breast cancer survival rates between Latin America and the developed world, with women in her native Colombia and the rest of the continent dying at higher rates due to late detection.

She realized that breast cancer is highly treatable when diagnosed early, yet many Latin American countries have large rural populations lacking access to mammograms and other diagnostic tools.

So Agudelo (pictured above) and her two best friends decided to create a theoretical portable device that would detect breast cancer early.

“The idea stuck with me,” Agudelo told TechCrunch. “I just couldn’t let go of the problem we had identified.” 

Shortly after the competition ended, Agudelo founded Salva Health and began developing the company’s first product, Julietta, a small device that measures tissue density with electrodes that attach to each breast and provides results within minutes to a phone, tablet, or computer.

Since then, Agudelo graduated from college, interned at PepsiCo, worked for Colombian health tech startup Dondoctor, and completed an MBA at INSEAD. It was a lot to juggle, but Salva always remained her main focus. 

Salva Health partnered with Grupo Sura, a major Colombian insurance company, to conduct clinical trials and develop an AI model capable of predicting breast cancer risk.

The company currently employs 13 people and is close to receiving approval from Colombia’s INVIMA (National Institute for Drug and Food Surveillance), a regulatory agency equivalent to the FDA. 

Julieta is not a substitute for mammograms. It’s a screening tool designed to detect abnormalities and assess the likelihood of malignancy. “With that information, insurance companies can prioritize women for proper diagnosis,” Agudelo said. 

Salva, a TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Startup Battlefield finalist, plans to start distributing Julieta throughout Latin America after it receives the green light from INVIMA. Agudelo explained that other countries in the region are expected to recognize INVIMA’s approvals based on commercial treaties.

The company also intends to request that the FDA acknowledges INVIMA’s approval. Although the U.S. doesn’t have a significant shortage of mammogram machines or a large rural population, screening some women with Julieta instead could result in substantial cost savings for health insurances, Agudelo said.

“And then, we want to start getting approval and recognized in other countries, focused on emerging markets: Africa, India,” she said.

Instead of selling Julieta to clinics, Salva plans to provide the device for free and charge health payors for each screening.

Agudelo said that she chose the hardware-as-a-service business model because she wanted to retain control of the device and data, so the company can make improvements to it when necessary. 

But Salva doesn’t want to limit itself to breast screening only. “We’re currently exploring solutions for early signs of diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” Agudelo said. “We are focusing on detecting these conditions early so they can get proper diagnosis and treatment at a fraction of the cost.”