Swedish design firm Pond Healthcare Innovation has developed apps for pharmaceutical companies focusing on the European market supporting patients and clinicians. It developed a symptom tracker to support multiple sclerosis patients for Novartis and a training tool for physicians on Hyponatremia for Otsuka. Its latest collaboration with Novartis is a smart spirometer and companion app designed to evaluate lung function.
The goal of these devices is to get a regular assessment of lung function so if there is a sudden change, physicians can intervene faster and reduce the need for hospitalization.
Pond Healthcare Innovation CEO Daniel Taub said in an interview that the Air Smart spirometer device is CE-certified by European regulators and is available in Europe. Taub said that it collaborated with Novartis’s on a COPD application for the device, but he believes it could be applied to a broader variety of respiratory conditions beyond Europe.
It plans to launch a version of the smartphone-enabled device for Android users in the first quarter of 2016. The company is also working on an application to diagnose asthma.
It reflects a broader Beyond the Pill collaboration trend between pharma and digital health companies to add services and connected devices to improve patient outcomes. Cohero Health developed a smart spirometer for the U.S. market for people with respiratory problems.
Novartis did not immediately respond to a request for comment before this post was published.
