Sprint (NYSE:S) and Techstars are pushing beyond the traditional definition of mobile health with some of the companies selected for their first mobile health accelerator class.
Tuesday marked the first day of the three-month program in which startups will work with tech and healthcare leaders to hone their products and business strategies. Each company will also get up to $120,000 in funding.
Some attempt to tackle some of the data challenges that healthcare providers are dealing with. Prime, for example, is an app that connects with clinics, hospitals and other care providers to bring all of a patient’s health information together in one place. Symptom.ly is a mobile symptom tracker with the goal of reducing readmissions for asthma and other chronic illnesses.
Of course there are a few social-focused companies in the bunch. Like a Doppler radar for weather, Sickweather scans social networks to track illnesses in different areas of the country. And stealthy Tenacity Health uses “unprecedented forms of social motivation to promote healthier and happier workspaces.”
Others focus on communication. To enable better care coordination, Yosko facilitates instant communication among nurses and doctors and provides a digital patient hand-off module. Medicast is an app that allows users to call doctors to their homes. Ollo Mobile makes a wearable smartphone that monitors activity levels. Ideal for seniors, it detects falls and lack of motion and calls for help when necessary.
Joining Ollo under the device category is AkibaH, a team of Cornell grads trying to free users from carrying glucometers everywhere by building one into their smartphone case. Another company is bringing wearables to pets. Fitbark is an activity tracker for hardcore dog lovers who want to keep a closer eye on their pup’s activity and behavior.
Finally, there’s an interesting company working on a personal safety and security app called LifeLine Response that would come in handy for those nights when you leave the office late at night, or are walking alone in a place you don’t feel safe. When it detects that you’re in danger, it sounds an alarm and transmits your GPS location to a response verification center, who can relay your information to the nearest 911 center.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The first class will conclude in a demo day in June.
[Image credit: Ollo Mobile]
