Information regarding COVID-19

Palo Alto, California & Tampere FINLAND, 19th March 2020 – Modulight, Inc.

Dear Friends of Modulight laser family,

We hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy and safe, despite the dramatic, ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Modulight is also affected by COVID-19, like many other companies, and in the following we would like to inform you about our status.

Modulight operations

Modulight laser fab can be operated almost in a vacuum for months despite what happens around us, with little or no external supplies. Our laser process recycles nearly 100% of its supplies; to give you an idea what this means we’ve used mere kilograms of material during the past 20 years. Most of the work is long-term in nature, and mostly progress is going to be limited by possible disruptions in our partners’ own operations.

Due to US, European and global travel restrictions, we see impact in our services and clinical site support. Just before COVID-19 started to unfold, our local service activities managed to complete preventive maintenance & service visits to several key clinical sites in North America and Europe. Big thanks to our service teams for taking care of these important activities.

Our service team will continue to provide support remotely, monitor the cloud-connected devices, and provide normal remote and factory support. Global courier logistics seem to be operating normally. Increased safety precautions and decontamination actions are being taken into use.

We have hired one more person to our laser family also today and keep hiring; currently we have nearly 20 positions open in our career website and silent search.

Coronavirus situation in Finland

While we all are definitely stressed and impacted – it’s good to keep to the facts. Modulight position is to heed to government & authorities’ instructions. In Finland, where our semiconductor fab and global HQ is located, we can be grateful to have in many ways the best public sector in the world.

For instance, our school system, which for many years in a row has produced the best results (yet children have very little or no homework), has already proven itself by putting nearly every Finnish child to online or remote learning in a couple days’ time.

The best places for following real impact to Finnish society are Official government health agency in Finland (THL) https://thl.fi/en/web/thlfi-en and Government websites https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/frontpage. We have come to trust THL and the Finnish Government as very reliable sources of information.

Our operations at Modulight are much more isolated from normal economic and societal flux. We are taking now extra steps to contribute to the society, which needs all of us in relatively good situation even more than ever. Hard facts based on the assessment made by THL and the Universities of Turku and Tampere say 20-60% of the Finnish population will get coronavirus infection. Summary of the three THL scenarios:

  • Mild scenario: 20% of the Finnish population is infected by COVID-19, over one million Finns
  • Average scenario: 40% infected, over 2.1 million Finns
  • Severe scenario: 60% infected, more than 3.2 million Finns.

The mortality rate estimated is based on 0.05 – 0.1 percent of the infected people. According to the model, there would be 1,080 – 8,100 intensive care patients in Finland and 540 – 3240 deaths, depending on the scenario. To put these numbers to the perspective, the mortality due to COVID-19 is expected to be at same level in Finland as US traffic accident deaths (mild scenario) or 6x (severe scenario). Another way to put this in proportion is looking at common flu deaths in Finland in 2019, which is over 400. No matter what the eventual numbers will be, these will touch many of us via families and friends and we encourage you all to support those needing help and strength to fight this disease.

Our health care sector assures they are capable to handle the COVID-19 situation. Our government has enacted Emergency Powers Act, which ensures that all necessary measures are being taken in all areas of the society, including business continuity. Together we will prevail!

Central bank of Finland reports that economics will regress -1.5% to -4% in 2020, but the impact of the pandemic will be contained. This corresponds with data we’ve received from Goldman Sachs and others; the economic impact of COVID-19 being timeline-wise limited, in most Industries. We are also receiving concrete signals from China that their industry is clearly coming online fast, and people are returning to work. The aid and even critical medical resources for fighting against COVID-19 are already being reallocated elsewhere, and foreign aid is aimed from China to Europe.

Modulight laser family keeps together and supports society

At Modulight, we currently have only a few people working remote or reported sick with mild symptoms – luckily so far no diagnosed COVID-19 cases or severe symptoms. As we have agreed in the team to take exceptional care for the well-being of their fellow laser family and friends. We continue to prioritize the well-being and safety of our laser family and society – yet keep on doing our part in the networked, co-operative world economy. This will be hard for everybody, but those of us who are more fortunate need to help the others. Please keep in contact with your counterparts at the Modulight laser family, and they will help you best they can. Please also consider particularly many local services and businesses who have lost everything – if there is a way you can help them, please do so.

Yours sincerely,
Seppo Orsila
Chairman & CEO
Modulight, Inc.

About Modulight, Inc.

Modulight, Inc. is a leading biomedical laser company for genetics, oncology, and ophtalmology. Modulight products are used by many pharmaceutical companies as well as leading cancer centers in the world to cure, develop, and diagnose the most demanding indications and therapies. While the majority of Modulight’s products are sold in the US, the company is proud of their loyal customer base spanning over the entire globe. Modulight’s support extends beyond the hardware – every week Modulight lasers are installed, trained and calibrated in various hospitals around the world.

Modulight team is also assisting number of customers with most demanding regulatory and quality topics. Modulight is also often called when completely new, ground-breaking technology is needed. With 15 years and more than 1 million lasers manufactured, Modulight offers laser products and services from chip to complete turnkey laser solution, at wavelengths from visible to infrared. Modulight is one of the few medical laser companies who actually manufactures lasers. Visit our fab virtually, or even better, set up a visit to our world class laser fab.

More information

Modulight, Inc. 
marketing.communication@modulight.com
m. (408) 218 7960