[DigitalToday freelance reporter Byunghee Lee] MetaDX, led by CEO Jinwook Kim (김진욱), is a pet medical AI solutions company that develops treatment and diagnostic support solutions for animal hospitals. The company was founded to create an environment where veterinarians can focus only on care, and it aims to structure the entire flow of data used in clinical settings with artificial intelligence (AI).

MetaDX proved its capabilities in diagnostics with its first solution, CancerVET, an AI-based screening test for canine tumours. MetaDX took the technology to London Vet Show 2025 and was introduced after being selected as an exhibition company to watch in the global veterinary market. MetaDX is upgrading VitalVET, an AI solution that predicts anesthesia risk based on pet biometric information and clinical test data, as its next core business. VitalVET has already moved beyond the MVP stage and is preparing both validation in real animal hospital environments and commercialisation at the same time.

Jinwook Kim, CEO of MetaDX, stressed that "VitalVET is a clinical tool that improves both anesthesia decision-making and communication," as he explained the background to the solution.

◆Rising number of older pets, higher owner demands... anesthesia safety becomes a key task

The background to VitalVET’s development includes three structural changes occurring at the same time in the pet healthcare market. First is the increase in older pets. Second, owners’ medical understanding and expectations are rising. Third, hospitals are facing a growing burden from medical accidents and disputes. Amid these changes, anesthesia safety has become the most important task for animal hospitals to address.

Kim said, "Just as precise diagnosis and preparation before surgery are important in human medicine, in pet care anesthesia is the part owners worry about most during surgery." He added, "That is why accurately assessing pre-anesthesia risk is very important."

But existing medical settings have not adequately addressed the issue. Kim said, "Most AI solutions focus only on diagnostic accuracy, and there are almost no AI solutions for areas like anesthesia, where accidents have large ripple effects."

MetaDX developed VitalVET to fill that gap. Based on the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification system, ASA Grade, VitalVET uses AI to comprehensively analyse complete blood count (CBC), serum chemistry tests, electrolytes and basic clinical information for pets. It predicts and visualises pre-anesthesia risk in five levels.

The key point is that VitalVET trained on more than about 5,000 real surgery and anesthesia case datasets. This overcame the limitations of the existing ASA Grade, which depends on veterinarians’ experience and qualitative judgement, enabling quantification and standardisation based on clinical data.

An external assessment has also been positive. MetaDX was selected as a startup company for the 2025 Startup-Centered University programme, supported by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation and hosted by Hanyang University, and was evaluated as a top-performing company.

Kim said VitalVET has four strengths. First, it immediately converts pre-anesthesia test data into a risk level. Second, it automatically generates a customised consent form based on the risk level. Third, it reduces the burden on veterinarians to explain and increases owners’ trust. Fourth, it creates data-based records that structure legal risk. Kim said these strengths mean VitalVET is not simply predictive AI.

Kim analysed that the reason VitalVET is quickly gaining attention in the market is that it accurately understands clinical reality. Kim, who is also a veterinarian, said, "The differentiating point of VitalVET is not whether 'this animal is risky or safe,' but that it also shows why it is risky and what needs to be explained." This makes it possible to interpret the attention as stemming not from simple technology competition but from being "AI that understands the realities of animal hospital operations and care."

◆Technology that protects veterinarians’ judgement without replacing their experience

MetaDX emphasises AI integration in product development, and its philosophy on AI is distinctive. Kim said, "The reason AI-based tumour testing technology has recently drawn attention is that AI is evolving beyond simply being a tool to increase accuracy, and into a role that connects and interprets medical data." He added that MetaDX’s AI has been upgraded to understand context by linking blood, biometric information and clinical records, rather than looking at only a single test result.

The newly developed VitalVET was also built on this philosophy. Above all, it stresses that AI is absolutely not meant to replace veterinarians’ roles.

Kim said, "This is not AI that replaces medical staff’s judgement. It makes their judgement safer and more consistent." He added, "It is not technology that replaces a veterinarian’s experience. It is technology that protects a veterinarian’s judgement."

◆Korean technology, a solution designed to global standards

One of MetaDX’s strengths is its potential for global expansion. VitalVET is technology developed in South Korea, but it was designed from the early stages of development based on ASA Grade, a global clinical classification system presented by the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Because the system is commonly used by animal hospitals around the world, including in the United States, Europe and Asia, it can be adopted immediately without separately converting standards. MetaDX plans in the short term to focus on full-scale commercialisation of VitalVET and expanding validation in animal hospitals in South Korea and overseas.

Kim said, "In the mid to long term, the goal is to expand into an AI-based clinical decision-making platform that covers the full pet life cycle, from anesthesia to tumours to chronic disease to prognosis management."