Startups, Patient Engagement

A healthcare startup to provide patient perspective adopts co-op model

Savvy Cooperative was one of several startups to present at the pitch day ELabNYC this week for Entrepreneur Lab, a New York City incubator geared for life science and health tech companies.

From the perspective of Savvy Cooperative CEO and founder Jen Horonjeff, if pharma companies, healthcare organizations, and technology companies want a patient’s perspective to create better treatments and solutions, then they should pay patients, not just the company providing access. Savvy Cooperative is set up as a patient co-operative. It was one of several startups to present at the pitch day by ELabNYC , a biotech and healthtech Entrepreneur Lab, a six-month incubator that’s part of the New York City Economic Development Corp.

Horonjeff, who had juvenile diabetes and has multiple chronic conditions, has seen the healthcare industry reach a point where the patient perspective has become much sought after. Plenty of companies like have established patient communities with a business model that involves charging pharma and healthcare organizations a fee to access that data. Savvy’s approach is different. It is centered on giving patients the ability to connect with the company pitches that interest them. But to be considered a patient, participants needn’t have a pre-existing condition as many of the studies advertised on Savvy’s website or looking for healthy subjects.

“We see a big opportunity here because more and more people are trying to leverage patient insights,” she said.

Launched in May last year, Savvy won Inspiring Capital’s Pitch for People competition, took part in the MATTER healthcare incubator in Chicago, and in the Lyfebulb-Novo Nordisk innovation summit in Copenhagen.

Savvy’s website lists a variety of requests for patients in a section called “gigs” such as a digital health company looking for participants to talk about weight loss, a research study to evaluate sleep medications, a study testing the effectiveness of a sleep monitor for people with pre-diabetes. Companies are charged a recruitment fee to promote their studies on the website.

As companies refine the development of active and passive data collection tools, more of them are seeking ways to more easily connect with patients. Savvy is pitched as an online marketplace where patients and companies can connect with each other to advance patient-centered care. Horonjeff presents the business as a more attractive alternative to Craigslist but concedes it is competing against more targeted businesses like WEGO Health.

Savvy charges a one-time fee for membership. In return, members can vote in co-op decisions, gain preferred enrollment for certain gigs, conference discounts and other benefits.

Although pharma companies seek to gain more insight on clinical trial design and information for what would improve a patient’s quality of life for certain conditions, technology startups also want to gain patient’s perspective through questionnaires to help make their products stickier.

Looking ahead, Horonjeff said the business is in talks with three pharma companies, plans to work with more accelerators and incubators and is even developing a certification program for companies.

Image: kentoh, Getty Images

 

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