Berlin startup does a Latin jive to usher in new era of female health in Mexico with AI-driven breast cancer screening

In a mission to save lives of women by introducing them to early AI-driven breast cancer screening, German deeptech startup Vara and Argentine health tech company Mamotest have unveiled their first breast-cancer screening unit in the Reina Madre Private Hospital in Metepec, close to Mexico City.

The Metepec screening unit is the first of a fifty-fifty partnership between Berlin-based Vara and Mamotest, which has pioneered the first tele-mammography network in Latin America, covering the whole of Mexico. The partnership is the first step in Mamotest and Vara’s shared mission to increase access to breast screening for women across the world.

Mamotest will provide high-quality digital mammograms along with a wide variety of supportive initiatives to the hundreds of thousands of women who currently do not have access to the health system, using the company’s German-developed screening technology, tested on more than 6 million mammograms.

The partnership will kickstart a new era in female health in Mexico and beyond, allowing universal access to screening with clinically-based evidence, potentially saving the lives of millions of women.

Between 20 and 60 women a day will be seen in the Metepec Mamotest screening unit and each will be charged around $15 a scan, compared with usual private clinic rates in Mexico of around $100. The high rate of utilisation of the screening unit, made possible by Vara’s technology, is key to Mamotest and Vara being able to offer screening at a price that makes this preventative health care accessible for all.

The companies plan to expand the number of screening units in partnership in Mexico this year, with locations due to be confirmed shortly.

Jonas Muff, Co-founder and CEO of Vara, said: “With Vara’s AI-powered technology to Mexico, we can make breast cancer screening accessible to all women who need it. Used in this way, technology makes screening affordable and accessible, providing capacity to communities who have up until now been excluded from accessing the remarkable improvement in breast cancer screening and care.”

Guillermo Pepe, founder and CEO of Mamotest, said: “For almost 10 years, Mamotest has been developing a number of initiatives above and beyond access to mammography screening: from awareness campaigns to promoting legislation for women’s rights and improving access to breast cancer treatment. Today marks a new era in female health care and we are delighted that Vara is bringing its world-class technology to Mexico where it can make a huge difference to the lives of ordinary women.”