London startup successfully completes Kickstarter campaign to provide digital device to asthmatics

The Smart Peak flow meter measures the ability of asthma patients to breathe out air

Here’s another example of a digital makeover of a traditional medical device.

London-based Smart Respiratory Products is hoping to strike a chord with asthmatics by reimagining the hand-held peak flow meter, which measures the ability of a person to breathe out air.

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The company successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign this week and raised $15,000. The money will help to get a prototype of its Smart Peak Flow device into the hands of asthmatics around the world.

Here’s how it works: Patients blow into the tubular device, which plugs into a smartphone audio jack. A tiny window at the top of the device allows in ambient light, and a photo sensor at the bottom chops up that light as it passes through a fan powered by the force of the patient’s breath. The diode sends the flashing signal into the microphone and the phone picks it up as a sound file.

The device has a companion app that measures the user’s peak expiratory flow rate. The app automatically records and charts the readings, reminds the user to take medication and peak flow measurements, and can share results directly with doctors and caregivers. It also provides a gamified program, which allows users to qualify for a 90-day lung-track challenge.

The game is meant to engage both children and adults, who tend to use peak flow meters only when they’re having trouble breathing rather than on a regular basis, said Thomas Antalffy, founder of Smart Respiratory Products. Trained as a physician, the Hungarian-born Antalffy opted instead for computer programming and business.

The idea for a new device came to him through his experience in working with pharmaceutical companies. Previously, he founded a direct-mail company that sends pharmaceutical companies’ promotional materials to doctors in 60 countries.

“The whole idea came from working with pharma companies that market asthma drugs,” Antalffy said in a recent interview. “I was thinking of ways of helping asthma patients and came upon this device that seemed horribly archaic. I looked at them and said, we surely can do something better.”

While the Smart Peak Flow device provides a digital upgrade, the idea is not new. Digital peak flow meters have been available for years. In June, St. Louis-based Sparo Labs, won FDA clearance to market an over-the-counter, smart peak flow meter called Wing. Wing has a microphone that collects the audio signal formed by the user’s breath, and is powered by the phone.

Wing is currently available online only, and retails for $129, co-founder Abby Cohen said in an interview.

And that is where a crucial distinction pops up between the two smart devices. Antalffy wants Smart Peak Flow to sell in pharmacies for $10 to $15.

He and two partners from his other businesses put $100,000 of their own money into developing Smart Peak Flow. Their new company is also working on a reasonably-priced smart inhaler that would come in a uniform size to fit all medication canisters.

“I have spoken to pharmaceutical companies, and the dream for me would be to include Smart Peak Flow or the smart inhaler with every box of inhalers people buy,” Antalffy said.

Smart Respiratory Products plans to complete its 510(k) and CE Mark applications for Smart Peak Flow by mid-2017. Meanwhile, the company expects to ship prototypes of the device to its Kickstarter supporters in February.

“I have people in all kinds of places in the world with all kinds of phones testing this device,” Antalffy said. “We’re going to make a few thousand now and as soon as we have the registration, we will be looking at shipping to pharmacies and selling it as a peak flow meter.”

Photo: Smart Respiratory Products