MIT Media Lab spin-out Twine Health has raised $6.75 million to support the expansion of a software platform using apps to help patients manage their chronic diseases and collaborate with physicians.
Since the company scored a clinical collaboration as part of a digital health pitch contest at Brigham and Women’s Hospital iHub innovation center last year, it has been validating its approach in clinical trials and building its platform for large-scale commercial deployment.
The institutional investors that participated in the Series A round included Khosla Ventures, Provenance Venture Forum, and Tower Capital Partners. Other round participants were Andy Palmer, James Pallotta and retired Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer.
Among its target customers are primary care practices, Accountable Care Organizations and on-site employer clinics.
Patients using its platform work with assigned coaches on goals that matter to them. They use connected devices to track their progress to improve how they manage their health through texting and video interaction.
A clinician facing dashboard provides a population health monitoring tool to see which patients need extra help. It also provides a way to do cost-benefit analysis.
Frank Moss, Twine co-founder and chairman, referenced Twine’s momentum in a statement:
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.
“We’re in an ideal position to accelerate the crucial transition to value-based healthcare by as much as a decade. In 2015, we did the hard work of getting actual results with our clinical partners, which were all extremely positive. We now are embarking on a strategy to make Twine a ‘must-have’ for organizations of all types that bear risk for patient outcomes and are managing to the bottom line.”
In a randomized control trial with Massachusetts General Hospital for hypertension patients, the participants using Twine Health received advice from a nurse health coach through its CollaboRhythm app on a tablet computer. Participants used the app to track medication adherence and used a wireless device to track blood pressure. The coach helped them make lifestyle changes and medication adjustments with integrated messaging. They had a greater decrease in systolic BP at 12 weeks than control subjects.
Although control subjects received support from the same coach, it was delivered through traditional channels such as office visits, phone calls, and e-mail. The Twine Health users
Twine Health is part of a group of health IT companies trying to address the challenge helping patients stick to their care plan between appointments and identify challenges to doing that early on to avoid unnecessary hospitalization.
Moss expanded on insights gleaned from clinical studies in an interview. Read more.
