The DTx Companies Disrupting the NHS
The NHS is probably one of the most beloved organisations in the UK. It’s the country’s largest employer and for all intents and purposes, sole provider of quality healthcare. The NHS Innovation Accelerator was established to help get fast-moving companies to market in the UK, so that patients can start benefiting from innovative solutions quicker.
These are the 5 companies on the NHS Innovation Accelerator list that really caught our eye.
Vine Health
Built by an NHS doctor and a data scientist, Vine Health is a platform designed for cancer patients to log their symptoms, monitor their treatment, track their well-being, and benefit from access to patient support programmes. Vine Health has a dual purpose alongside its provision of patient-centered services; it acts as an excellent way to collect quality of life and patient-reported outcomes data which can then be used in clinical research to further improve cancer treatments.
GetUBetter
As of March 2022, musculoskeletal conditions are the third biggest expense for the NHS, costing around £5 billion a year. getUBetter is one of the technologies that’s here to help fix that. They’ve created an app that empowers users to self-manage a range of musculoskeletal conditions. It also comes with a clinician portal that provides stakeholders with real-time analytics to help optimise the uptake of their product.
Acurable
Acurable is a medical devices company producing a unique wearable that has, at present, two main purposes - firstly, the diagnosis of sleep apnoea and secondly, data collection for respiratory and cardiac biomarkers.
Rather than a traditional sleep study where you stay at hospital, Acurable have remarkably condensed that ordeal into what they call the AcuPebble SA100 - a tiny device that sits comfortably on a patient’s neck and monitors various parameters to make the diagnosis of sleep apnoea without the need for wires, monitors, healthcare providers, and a stay in hospital.
In case you’ve never seen a sleep study before, we recommend you have a quick Google so you can see why we’re so amazed.
Brain in Hand
Brain in Hand is an online and mobile platform designed to empower individuals to manage their anxiety. Although they can be used by anyone, they’re often used by people with specific conditions including autism, people with mental health conditions, and individuals with learning difficulties.
We like how Brain in Hand combines the human aspect of mental health condition management with their tech. The onboarding involves a consultation with one of their assessors to help an individual plan out what exactly they need help with e.g. planning out your day. If a user requires help with a specific step, such as shopping, they can ask for help and receive contact via phone, text, or e-mail.
FibriCheck
FibriCheck is an easy to use app that lets users monitor their heart rhythms, simply by placing their finger on their phone camera. Traditionally, abnormal heart rhythms are usually picked up incidentally through a spot ECG, or through 24 to 48 hour ECG monitors. Although there are ways of monitoring the heart longer term, they’re typically more invasive which can mean someone having intermittent abnormal heart rhythms doesn’t get the right treatment.
Something like FibriCheck has the potential to revolutionise the way such heart rhythms are picked up, particularly when it’s as easy as placing a finger on a phone camera.
Our mission at Lindus Health is to accelerate clinical trials, so patients can benefit from new treatments sooner. We are a next-generation CRO helping Digital Therapeutics pioneers run radically faster, more reliable clinical trials. We do this by marrying a world class clinical team with an end to end technology platform, including EDC, database, site and feasibility products. We also have unique access to over 5m electronic health records. We can recruit participants and execute a trial efficiently, from capturing trial endpoints, managing screening and patient visits.
Our products have been used to recruit, onboard and handle data from thousands of patients and Lindus Health has helped run over 70 studies up to 3x faster than traditional CROs. Get in touch to see how we could help solve your next clinical trial!
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