Boehringer collaborates for online ‘beyond pill’ plan
pharmafile | July 11, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications | Boehringer, diabetes, digital, healthrageous
Boehringer Ingelheim is collaborating with US digital health specialist Healthrageous on a scheme to help type II diabetes sufferers manage their disease themselves.
Described by the firm as part of a commitment to the ‘beyond pill’ approach to healthcare, the programme will use the internet and smartphones to deliver information to patients.
Healthrageous will manage the pilot, which involves 200 adults in the US and revolves around coaching how to manage their condition, encouraging them to stick to a specific regimen.
Participants will receive a personalised action plan with behaviour improvement goals, biometric feedback to demonstrate their achievement so far, incentives for progress, medication reminders and social networking support.
The effect of this ‘digital technology intervention’ on changes in lifestyle, glucose control – seen via patients’ wireless glucose meters – and adherence to taking their medicines will be evaluated and the programme expanded to take in up to 1,000 patients in different countries if the pilot proves successful.
The idea is that finding out how patients respond to such a programme should give clues as to which bits of treatment work and which need modifying to suit common behaviour.
With chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or high blood pressure, measurable improvements can be made to patients’ wellbeing by some form of intervention – be it telling people when to take pills, how to eat better food, nutrition or to do more exercise.
Manufacturers and governments are increasingly looking at technology as a means of managing disease, and diabetes is an obvious target – not least because of the scale of the problem.
An estimated 366 million people worldwide have diabetes, with type II accounting for up to 95% of all cases, and that number is set to grow as more people live sedentary lifestyles and eat unhealthily.
Boehringer is bullish about the prospects for online interventions in other areas, saying it plans to “engage in many more initiatives of that kind”.
“We have to pursue a new approach to see the patient with all his or her aspirations but also limitations,” said Boehringer board member Bert Tjeenk-Willink.
“This first initiative offering a comprehensive digital platform for type II diabetes will help us to better understand what motivates individuals to become and remain engaged in self-managing their health,” he added.
Adam Hill
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