Body scans: what does preventive screening really deliver?
Instagram-worthy: the Neko Health scanner (image: Neko Health)
The yellow robe, the softly lit room, the futuristic cylinder: a Neko Health appointment has a visual identity that travels easily beyond the clinic. As the company entered the US, a Harper’s Bazaar review included a robe selfie under the headline “The Hottest New Club in New York Is a High-Tech Medical Clinic”. Launch coverage also noted scanner posts from early visitors working in technology, media and venture capital.
Neko Health was founded by Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek and CEO Hjalmar Nilsonne, which likely explains why they're bringing the presentation of a consumer technology brand to the experience of a medical appointment. Their mission? Provide healthcare that can engage you while you're well.
What does the Neko Health scan add?
Neko combines its own diagnostic technology, software, clinical studies and clinics to deliver testing and personalised advice. The butter yellow Neko Health cylinder is one part of a sequence of examinations. One part, labelled Derma by Neko, photographs the skin and records thermal patterns, while Echo uses lasers to measure tiny movements associated with heartbeats, and Spectrum uses light to assess oxygenation in superficial tissue. Alongside these systems are blood tests, blood-pressure measurements, grip-strength and eye-pressure checks, with results processed by software and reviewed by a clinician.
Neko develops its own systems while incorporating some existing components: its Derma-2 regulatory submission, for example, identifies FLIR A50 infrared cameras. Earlier this year, the company added body-composition estimates and Apple Health integration. Its current UK page lists optional wearable-data sharing through both Apple Health and Android’s Health Connect.
In July, the company announced second-generation Derma-2, Echo-2 and Spectrum-2 devices at its newest Stockholm clinic, with wider rollout planned. Its September US launch description allocates roughly half the hour to testing and half to a clinician consultation, allowing results to be discussed before customers leave.
This combination differs from the whole-body MRI services often grouped with Neko. Prenuvo, promoted by Kim Kardashian, uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine internal organs and structures and lists its US whole-body scan at $2,499. Ezra/Function’s entry-level MRI costs $999, or $899 with a separately charged Function membership, and covers the head, neck, abdomen and pelvis; exclusions include the chest, heart, breasts and spine. These prices, checked in October 2026, buy different examinations.
Although Neko costs less, it cannot substitute for MRI images of internal organs; MRI itself uses no ionising radiation. Nor does more extensive imaging necessarily deliver better outcomes: in its 2023 position statement, the American College of Radiology found insufficient evidence to recommend total-body screening for people without symptoms, relevant risk factors or a suggestive family history. That statement concerns whole-body imaging rather than Neko’s assessment.
For Neko, an equally relevant comparison is the preventive care already available. In England, eligible adults aged 40–74 should be invited to a free NHS Health Check every five years, covering blood pressure, cholesterol, body measurements and cardiovascular risk, with blood sugar testing where appropriate and advice on reducing risk. Neko packages some overlapping checks with additional imaging, measurements and repeat tracking; whether those extras improve outcomes enough to justify their costs is the more demanding test of its value.
How well is Neko Health screening proven?
The evidence begins with individual measurements. A June 2026 Scientific Reports paper evaluated Neko’s laser-based measurement of left ventricular ejection time; this is the interval during which the heart’s main pumping chamber ejects blood. In a comparison involving 238 participants, the authors reported statistical equivalence with Doppler echocardiography using a predefined 25-millisecond margin. The study included people with known or suspected cardiovascular disease, and most authors were Neko employees.
That supports a particular measurement, while regulatory clearance addresses the equipment’s specified use. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Derma-2 for skin imaging and thermal-pattern review alongside other clinical methods, leaving interpretation to professionals. Its submission states that no clinical studies were performed on the device for that submission; neither this clearance nor the cardiac measurement study establishes the overall benefit of the screening package.
Neko’s reports provide evidence of discoveries and subsequent changes. Among 2,707 people scanned in Stockholm in 2023, it said 1% received potentially life-saving interventions. Its September 2026 report covers 80,858 members, but the first-to-second-scan biomarker analysis concerns a smaller group of 9,138 returners, among whom it reports improvements in cardiovascular and metabolic markers.
As Neko acknowledges, these observations lack a randomised control group and cannot establish that scanning caused the improvements. Its serious-disease detection analysis is Sweden-only, and outcomes had been resolved and coded for 65% of the 2025 referrals at the time of analysis. Unresolved cases may mean detection is understated, as Neko argues, but they also leave an incomplete account of what follows a scan.
Evaluating that pathway requires counting harms alongside benefits. A false positive flags a possible problem that further testing does not confirm, whereas overdiagnosis detects a real condition that would never have caused problems during someone’s lifetime. Either can lead to anxiety, unnecessary investigations or treatment.
Neko’s chief medical officer, Dr Sunita Mishra, told amNewYork that “at Neko everything we test for is actionable”, citing clinician interpretation, specialist review and in-house follow-up intended to reduce false positives and unnecessary referrals. These safeguards address how findings are managed, but an available intervention can still expose someone to treatment they would never have needed.
The balance is why Swedish family doctor Minna Johansson has questioned whether Neko’s data can evaluate the benefits and harms of its service. Wider research also counsels caution: a 2019 Cochrane review found little or no effect of general health checks on overall or cancer mortality. Its overall-mortality analysis included 233,298 participants across 11 trials, with searches extending to January 2018. Those trials did not evaluate Neko’s technology, so they provide grounds for scrutiny rather than a verdict on its effectiveness.
Who can access it, and does insurance cover the scan?
Even if the additional benefit becomes clearer, access will depend on how the service is funded. At £299 in the UK and $499 in the US, the assessment remains a substantial private expense, and Neko acknowledges that its paying members are not nationally representative. Findings from this group therefore cannot simply be extended to people facing greater barriers to care.
The funding question also extends beyond the appointment. In its general screening policy, the Royal College of GPs warns that private tests without established benefit can generate unnecessary investigations and consume NHS resources. Neko’s UK service offers specialist review, in-house ultrasound and echocardiography where possible, and referrals when care is needed elsewhere; those arrangements do not, by themselves, establish whether downstream public costs are reduced.
Management recognises the price barrier. In a June 2026 Vogue Business interview, Nilsonne described the service as “affordable luxury” and outlined ambitions to reduce delivery costs through automation and attract collaboration from employers, insurers and health systems. A company spokesperson subsequently told amNewYork that broader access “may include accepting insurance in the future”, without providing a timetable or naming an insurance partner in that report.
For now, its US agreement requires customers to pay in full and says Neko does not participate in commercial insurance or government health programmes. Customers may seek reimbursement from a commercial insurer without any guarantee of payment, while eligibility for health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) allows payment from tax-advantaged funds rather than providing insurance coverage.
Future coverage could broaden access, depending on eligibility, benefits and costs, but Neko’s prevention mission currently reaches people primarily through private purchasing power. The company has made screening an attractive consumer experience; its wider contribution will depend on demonstrating enough additional health benefit to justify that expenditure and making the benefit available beyond those who can pay for it themselves.
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