A healthcare mobile app meant to help medical researchers with their clinical trials is now available in Apple’s iPhone App Store.
iRx Reminder, based in Akron, Ohio, developed the app to serve as a research tool used to conduct medication or behavioral intervention studies with chronic disease patients. It reminds patients to take their medications, delivers educational materials to help patients manage their disease and surveys patients about their lives in a way that would predict when patients may use their medication improperly. Researchers can customize the app’s instructions.
The healthcare mobile app costs $29.99 in the App Store, but it also requires a license from iRx Reminder in order to use the device — and that’s where the company really hopes to make its money. It has two licensing options: one for universities that costs $15,000 and another for private companies that’s negotiable. That fee goes towards web-based software that enables users to set up and customize research protocols.
The company calls its technology the first in the App Store that enables real-time communication between patients and researchers, and can be customized by researchers.
“The key innovation is that I as a researcher have an app on an iPhone capable of doing whatever I envision in helping patients with health compliance, customizable at any time without the need for programming or IT staffing support,” CEO Anthony Sterns said.
The company has begun work on iPad and Android versions of the app, Sterns said.
Founded in 2009, iRx Reminder has already gained several prominent local research users, including Kent State University and Case Western Reserve University, which are collaborating on a heart failure study. Akron’s Summa Health System used iRx Reminder’s technology to follow stroke patients and help them better manage their medications and recognize stroke symptoms.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Being in the App Store allows us to instantly distribute our software to anywhere in the world, making the process of supporting our customers simple and seamless,” Sterns said. “In fact, we have our first interest in our system at the University of Marburg in Germany.”
