Two Boston area startups are partnering on an effort to establish better post-hospitalization transition for patients with depression and other chronic diseases, or both.
iGetBetter, which focuses on post-acute care transition, and Goodlux Technology, which provides management solutions specifically for treating depression, collectively created SunSprite Care Plan. It includes a wearable tracking device connected to a mobile app that transmits information on adherence to the cloud, with the hopes of better monitoring potentially high-risk readmission patients.
The cloud platform is run by iGetBetter, while Goodlux Technology developed the wearable.
Data from the SunSprite device, which is connected to the patient’s mobile device, will be automatically uploaded to the iGetBetter database along with other biometric and self-reported patient data, such as mood and energy levels.
The companies cite CDC figures that indicate depression is found in 17 percent of cardiovascular cases, 23 percent of cerebrovascular cases and 27 percent of diabetes patients. For cancer patients, the number is 40 percent.
“Given our focus on depression, we know that its high comorbidity with other chronic conditions significantly increases medical costs for patients,” Ed Likovich, CEO of GoodLux Technolog, said in a statement.
Goodlux, founded in 2012, uses “bright light therapy” in an attempt to contrl and reduce depression, which it says can improve the efficacy of broader care plans for patients with depression and chronic diseases.
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 companies will begin a pilot at a physician practice in Utah. iGetBetter, headed by CEO Win Burke and founded in 2013, in August last year started a pilot for congestive heart failure patients at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
GoodLux Technology has raised a little more than $1.9 million in a mix of debt financing and VC, according to Crunchbase.
[Photo from Flickr user Uditha Wickramanayaka]
