Health IT, Pharma

Takeda gets into the digital health crowdsourcing game with depression app challenge

Takeda U.S.'s Vice President for External Partnerships, Nicole Mowad-Nassar talked about the company's collaboration with technology partners and health systems to advance digital health at Health 2.0 this week.

bigstock-People-faces-doodle-cartoon-e-25672391

Depression joined at the hip with digital health tools seems to be a hot area in at the moment. Pfizer launched a mood tracking app the Moodivator earlier this month to help people with depression track their mood as part of their treatment, set goals and establish routines. In August, Iodine began offering an app developed through Apple CareKit to manage depression in a clinical setting. At Health 2.0 this week, Takeda Pharmaceuticals held a competition to find a digital health application for Multiple Depressive Disorder.

In an interview with MedCity News, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Vice President for External Partnerships, Nicole Mowad-Nassar, noted that although the pharma company has used crowdsourcing competitions internally, this depression app challenge was the first effort to move these challenges beyond the confines of the company.

EllieGrid, led by co-founder and CEO Abe Matamonos, won the day and beat four other finalists with a smart pillbox. The digital interface that rests on top of the pillbox shows one dot per pill required for each dose. Users get a reminder through a companion app when it’s time to take their meds. Once they take their dosage, the app sends a confirmation to users and their caregivers. Although the device isn’t specifically geared to any one illness, Mowad-Nassar said studies show a clinical link in data between adherence to medication and depression.

Takeda’s plan is to work with Austin-based EllieGrid’s technology over the next few months to see how their innovation scales. The collaboration is part of a broader push into digital health.

The pharma company’s development platform includes wearables among other technologies. Earlier this month, Tekeda said it would collaborate on a pilot program to use wearables for inflammatory bowel disease, according to an article in BioPharma Dive. The company is collaborating on a pilot study with Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, to use a smartwatch as a symptom checker. The idea is to send the information to providers to help them track conditions and improve communication before symptoms get more serious. It could make in-office visits more productive but also produce valuable insights for Takeda and the other partners. 

“Improving the patient-provider dialogue is a big priority for us.” said Mowad-Nassar. “You want to understand the patient and what is happening to them beyond the office visit. What is leading up to those doctors appointments?”

Mowad-Nassar observed that pharma companies like Takeda are treading very carefully to comply with restrictions and obligations of pharma companies as they  move into the experimental world of digital health tech.

“We don’t want to be tech players,” she emphasized. “We believe we are a good partner with innovators.”

Mowad-Nassar said her job was only created in January this year. She said she comes from a background steeped in commercializing products. Part of her work with innovation partners involves participating in digital health conferences.

Crowdsourcing is all the rage these days both in the government through the HHS Competes initiative with the Department of Health and Human Services as well as by hospitals and pharma. It sure sounds a lot more glamorous than subcontracting. Still, the efforts of Takeda and other companies at least shows an interest and a willingness to understand and work with companies and individuals with varied perspectives to see which digital health tools fit their business and can add valuable insights, which ones still need work and those that are dead in the water.

Photo: Bigstock

Shares0
Shares0