 "Sun Pharma takes mobile app route to raise disease awareness: Abhay Gandhi")
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, country's largest drug maker by sales, launched a mobile app, RespiTrack, to raise awareness about the importance of treatment for asthma. Sun Pharma's India Business CEO Abhay Gandhi tells Business Standard said the company plans to create innovative mobile and digital applications for other ailments too.
Is work already underway to extend this to other disease areas? Which ones and when does Sun expect to roll them out?
Asthma is the first ailment we are targeting through this mobile application. We will create a portfolio of innovative mobile & digital applications across chronic and acute therapies to enable patients to improve their quality of life by having easy-access to his or her doctors and ensuring compliance to treatment by leveraging mobile technology extensively.
What is the need for an app like RespiTrack? What makes it different from other healthcare and wellness reminder apps?
The launch of RespiTrack is part of our broader goal to boost compliance to prescribed treatment regimen amongst patients. In therapies like Asthma, there is high rate of non-adherence to treatment regimen prescribed by a doctor. This is primarily on account of lack of proper understanding of the importance of following or completing the prescribed treatment or due to forgetfulness. Such non-adherence could have greater adverse implications on the patient's health in the long run. Through RespiTrack, we are making a beginning to boost patient's awareness and resultant adherence to treatment regimen.
What major diseases/conditions in India have heavy dropout and non-adherence rates in the treatment process? What are the rates?
Non-adherence to prescribed treatment regimen happens in most chronic and acute therapies. One of the most common therapies where we see significant non-adherances to prescribed treatment is in Asthma. It is estimated that nearly 50% to 70% patients in India do not adhere to asthma treatment regimen recommended by a doctor. Up to 50% of such non-adherence is on account of the patient's forgetfulness to take medicines on time. Another cause of non-adherence is inadequate understanding of the prescribed treatment regimen.
How much has Sun Pharma invested in the development of the app?
The App has been developed by our in-house team. We do not share specific investment details of these initiatives.
How is RespiTrack designed to work? What services have been programmed into the app to ensure adherence to this treatment?
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For an Asthma patient, RespiTrack allows complete monitoring of asthma attacks, symptoms and medications prescribed by the physician. It enables these patients to record time, place, duration & triggers of attacks along with medication details on the mobile App. The patient can easily send this data to the consulting physician through over-the-air mode on a weekly or monthly basis. RespiTrack also offers a review dashboard that gives a snapshot of all parameters to monitor over a period of time. Through RespiTrack, a doctor can access his patient's details through a personalized tracker module which is directly synced with the patient's App. This module allows doctors to access patient's ailment history, attack patterns, symptoms, medication patterns and reports.
How will the system of recurring medication reminders, pre-programmed alerts and over-the-air review by the doctors help raise compliance to treatment?
We believe that the pre-programmed alerts will reduce incidences of non-adherence which occur as a result of forgetfulness. A doctor can remotely view patient reports and also connect with them in case of non-compliance.
How regular will these reminders and reviews be? Will the patient have to pay the doctor extra consultation charges for the reviews?
The alerts can be programmed basis the prescribed treatment regimen. The app facilitates improved interaction between the doctor and patient. We will not be in a position to comment on whether doctor's may wish to charge extra consultation on such engagement.
Will this be a free app available for any iPhone and Android user or an exclusive, paid app? If paid, then how much will be charged to use the service?
RespiTrack is a mobile application that connects Doctors & Patients. It also facilitates patients' compliance to their treatment regimen. It is not a transactions platform. Sun Pharma does not charge any fees to patients or doctors using RespiTrack. It's subscription as well as services are offered free of cost.
How does Sun Pharma intend to position and market RespiTrack? Are there specific hospitals that the company is tying up with for this purpose? If yes, then which ones?
RespiTrack is available to all. A doctor's recommendation will be important to drive adoption of RespiTrack amongst patients.
Which country will RespiTrack be launched in first and when?
We have launched this App in India today.