Adherium’s smart inhaler tech chosen for EU mobile health program

Adherium Ltd. (ASK:ADR) said today that its Smartinhaler was chosen for the myAirCoach program as a part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework for Research and Innovation. The Horizon 2020 program is the largest EU research and innovation program ever established, with €80 billion (nearly $85 billion) of funding available from 2014 until 2020.

The myAirCoach program was developed to evaluate if home monitoring and mobile health technology can be predictive for patients who suffer from asthma. The program’s primary goals is to help asthma patients manage their symptoms and enhance the adherence and effectiveness of their prescribed regimens.

Melbourne, Australia-based Ahderium touted its respiratory disease management tool in a recently published study, which demonstrated a significant reduction in hospitalization over the course of a year for patients using Smartinhaler. The company will supply a range of products to the program, including devices for inhaled medications by AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK).

“Successful disease management and prevention is only truly achieved by understanding the real-world complexity of our lives. The best way to do that is through rich data collected in the real world. By providing our innovative solutions to people with asthma, we can help people take the right medicine, at the right dose, at the right time and in the right way,” founder & CEO Garth Sutherland said in prepared remarks. “The myAirCoach programme is a leading initiative assessing the impact that digital health solutions, such as Smartinhaler, can have on patients in a real-world setting. It is a major international project, funded by the prestigious European Union Horizon 2020 framework.”

Imperial College London, the University of Manchester and the Leiden University Medical Center are participating in the myAirCoach project, which is expected to run for the next year.

“The myAirCoach program will help asthma sufferers to manage their health through user-friendly tools that will increase awareness of their clinical state as well as their adherence and the effectiveness of medical treatment they follow,” Dr. Omar Usmani, from the Imperial College London, said.

“People with asthma are more likely to miss school or work and experience reduced quality of life,” Fan Chung, from the Imperial College London, added. “We are excited about the collaboration between Adherium and myAirCoach which is expected to set the basis for the widespread adoption of sensor-based self-management systems across the spectrum of respiratory diseases.”