See these Health Start-ups present at eyeforpharma Philadelphia when they pitch on stage as part of the Health Tech Start-up Challenge. The pharma industry has many gaps that need to be filled. Here are five startups rising to the challenge ![]() The charge that the pharma industry is a laggard is misguided. The science involved in saving lives is cutting-edge and always improving. The fact that personalised medicine is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ demonstrates pharma’s dynamism. Of course, the science is only one piece of the puzzle. And big pharma does not have a monopoly on good ideas. The evolving regulatory, cultural and technological landscape calls for new talent and new ways of thinking. Here are five startups ready to take up the mantle: AdhereTech If doses are missed, patients receive customisable interventions including bottle lights and chimes, automated phone calls, text messages, personalised support, and more. AdhereTech helps improve patient adherence and persistence, a problem that results in $100-$300bn of avoidable healthcare costs. AdhereTech goes beyond reminders to be a powerful real-time adherence and patient support solution. If the system notices certain patterns of non-adherence, it can solicit feedback from patients via text or phone call, asking them why a dose was missed. The patients’ responses can then be routed to live healthcare practitioners for immediate intervention. On average, AdhereTech patients fill 1 to 2 additional fills per year, generating a significant ROI for our customers. (Additionally, AdhereTech see increases to adherence by 20% and time on therapy by 35%.) AdhereTech partners with pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies to distribute high-cost specialty medications to patients in its bottles. AdhereTech increases adherence and persistency for these expensive medications, which results in increased refills, sales and ROI. The pharmaceutical companies pay for AdhereTech, whereas the specialty pharmacy is the distribution partner. AdhereTech is also a tool for clinical trials. The bottles monitor and increase adherence in trials, and patient adherence data is also correlated to drug efficacy and toxicity. Additionally, non-adherent patients are identified sooner, thus reducing the time and cost of trials. The pharmaceutical companies or research institutions pay for AdhereTech. Cecelia Health For pharmaceutical and medical device companies seeking to improve medication adherence and brand loyalty, and health plans and ACOs seeking to improve quality measures, Cecelia Health enables Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) and other expert clinicians to scale their reach and deliver effective, personalised, one-on-one care. Unlike technology only applications or call centers, Cecelia Health optimises the mix between expert clinicians and technology and unique data-driven insights to cost-effectively deliver measurable outcomes. Notable client partnerships include four of the largest diabetes global pharma companies, and health plans such as Humana, WellCare, BCBS Michigan and Healthfirst. The effectiveness of Cecelia Heath’s bespoke coaching solution can be gauged by the lowering of A1C levels in patients, which can reduce the risk for all complications by 30% to 35% and reduce the risk of a heart attack by 18%. Therefore, increasing life expectancy and a better quality of life for those living with diabetes. Clara Health Clara Health is transforming the clinical trials experience for every stakeholder involved. For Patients: Clara has combined tech with a human touch to hold patients’ hands through the clinical trials process from initial search through to enrollment. Clara’s platform and navigators handpick trials and then coordinate pre-screening, travel, insurance, and beyond — all free of charge to patients and caregivers. For Sponsors: Clara develops patient-centric recruitment and retention plans for sponsors alongside Clara’s Breakthrough Crew, comprised of seasoned patient advocates. The plans leverage ClaraCare, a top of the line concierge service and Clarity ad network which reaches 99% of the internet. For Sites: Clara Coordinator, a HIPAA compliant, cloud-based software helps reduce site burden, get diverse pre-screened leads, simplify patient follow-ups, and manage the pipeline so that sites can track and reply to candidates in minutes. Holmusk It does this through three main components: (1) proprietary data analytics, (2) speciality mental health EHR, and (3) digital health. Holmusk draws on its deep understanding of real-world data to inform predictive models to identify patients with unmet needs and those who are best suited for new drugs, aiding drug development and quicker market adoption. In addition, it creates personalised care protocols aided by clinical decision support tools powered by predictive AI models. Holmusk’s overarching mission is to make access to RWE a reality of today, not tomorrow. For pharma, we want to unlock the use of RWE in drug development and commercialisation by identifying patients with unmet needs, enabling data-driven research and development, providing evidence for regulatory submission and allowing quicker adoption of interventions in the market. Viver Health Vicki founded Viver Health, LLC to educate and empower patients dealing with disease. It is at the leading edge of a pharma trend to complement classic treatment for chronic conditions. It researches and produces comprehensive programs that enable patients to supplement their treatments with wise nutrition and wellness guidance specific to a disease state. The Viver team of researchers, nutritionists, content and media experts works closely with client sales forces, medical science liaisons and market access teams. The team mines volumes of evidence-based, peer-reviewed information to discover nuggets of knowledge that best benefit patients with specific diseases and conditions. Viver is helping the industry realise an opportunity: to supplement and augment classic patient treatments with a holistic, evidence-based approach to healing and conquering disease. Vicki Barghout’s experience is testimony to the efficacy of this approach. Viver’s guides and full programs help with patient compliance and mitigation of symptoms, and reduce resource utilisation — a win win for all parties. Pharma brands also have discovered that such programs enhance brand awareness and communicate a “we care” message to patients and stakeholders. Oshi Health Oshi is the first all-in-one app to help individuals live their best life with IBD. The free mobile app launched to the public in June 2018, and it is available for Apple iOS and for Android. User data is protected with best-in-class security. As of January 2019, Oshi has over 40,000 downloads across the US, Canada, UK and Denmark. Pharma brands can leverage Oshi’s platform to provide an enhanced digital patient experience program. Oshi offers an unbiased platform for users, filled with tracking tools and educational resources. Once a patient identifies their current IBD therapy, they are able to unlock specific content modules for that brand. Oshi also partners with pharma brands to offer access to patient reported outcomes (PROs) data sets that can be used to inform treatment optimisation strategies and pipeline development. Oshi also supports real-world evidence studies by supplementing PROs with validated measures surveys that are pushed out to study participants directly in the mobile app. The daily tracking features available through Oshi offers brands and researchers data points with greater frequency than available through traditional methods, expanding the tools available to understand IBD patients. The startups featured in this article will be taking part in our eyeforpharma Philadelphia event in April. You can find out more about the event here See these companies present at eyeforpharma Philadelphia on April 16-17th. I hope you enjoyed the article - please let me know if you have any feedback, or if you want to get involved with the summit. Kind regards, |
The 5 Health Start-Ups You Need to Know about |
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