What does the Future Hold for Patients?

In Oct 2017 the Adherium stock was trading around AUS $22 with the Rapihaler device FDA approved. Today 2024 – 16 different Hailie smart inhaler products are FDA approved for use. Yet the parent company Adherium stock has tanked from 2016 AUS$ 155.21 down to $0.04c.

Inhaler Compliance Technology

Not a Patient Success

One of the joys of leading an R&D healthcare company is the disparate opinions to be found amongst the employees on any subject. In 2017 when e-aids for both compliance and adherence monitoring of patients were a very hot ticket – there was strong and divisive debate about whether us engaging in this R&D area or not. My lone older voice could not quite understand what the fuss was all about with e-aids on medical devices.

Why not just use an app on a smartphone to remind of treatment times and perhaps press a button to confirm taking the tablet? But a beeping inhaler is way cooler!

• Throwing away electronics every 30 days did not seem like a great idea for the planet, and safe battery disposal is not easy either for built-in devices.

• The multi-use additive e-aids, such as the Hailie system above on the Symbicort® Rapihaler® seemed like the only practical way forward, but they were a bit clumsy in use and battery stocking and changing were ignored in advertising…

I am delighted to be looking at this area with fresh eyes. What does the future hold in the next few years for e-aids for compliance enhancement and adherence monitoring or just patient-centric technology?

What Do Electronic Compliance/Adherence Devices Do for Patients?

There is only really a subtle difference between compliance and adherence systems, and that is the monitor data recipient. The former is doctor-led, and so the intention is for patient treatment data to be available remotely for review and advisory purposes. For example, compliance devices would be very useful in Mental Health in-patients who are now recovering at home.

Adherence e-aids are to allow monitoring of the patient’s adherence to daily medicines by the parents or carers of that patient, or the patient themselves.

So, in summary, compliance e-aids are for the doctor, and adherence e-aids are for the patients and/or carers. The devices log when you take medicine, and some nag to tell you to take it. However, the add-on devices are not linked to the drug container, so do not function as dose-remaining counters.

Clinical Study Compliance Devices

A massive unintentional win in monitoring with add-on e-aids for any treatment is in clinical studies for New Drug Applications (NDA). In this application, the subjects (sometimes a patient) are monitored by spyware in the e-aid to ensure they take the correct dose of medication as prescribed and at the right time of day.

The simpler systems allow the data to be downloaded from the device at the end of the trial period and checked for compliance. A Yes /No data-driven instruction can then be given for the subject’s inclusion in the clinical study report or removal.