NOVARTIS BIOME UK ANNOUNCES SELECTION FOR HEALTHHUB 21

Novartis UK has announced the selected companies for the Novartis BIOME UK HealthHub 21 Challenge, in collaboration with KQ Labs, the data driven health accelerator of the Francis Crick Institute, and LifeArc, the charity helping to turn science into benefits for patients.

The four selected companies are Living With, Macusoft, Mendelian and NeutroCheck.

These startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be supported as part of the BIOME UK HealthHub 21 cohort to develop and scale their concepts to digitise patient pathways and advance remote care, helping to address the challenges of the NHS at this time.

Chinmay Bhatt, managing director of Novartis UK, Ireland & Nordics and Country President UK, said: “At Novartis UK, we are dedicated to supporting the NHS in building back better from the pandemic, especially through the uptake of digital solutions to improve service delivery, research outputs and the overall patient experience.

“This year’s selected BIOME UK HealthHub companies are developing solutions with the potential to drive real change for the healthcare system and for patients. I am looking forward to joining them on their journeys and seeing the measurable benefits they will bring to the NHS and patients over the coming months and years”.

TADA MEDICAL RAISES €5.8M IN GRANTS

Tada Medical, a medtech company based in Sweden and accelerated in Lille Northern France, has won the SME Grand Slam and has become one of only two SMEs that have managed to get the three grants from EU in just one year, as part of the EIC Accelerator, EIC Fast Track to Innovation and Eurostars-2.

Tada Medical is developing the ReLink medical device, a breakaway connector for an IV tube, designed to lessen complications and costs linked to accidental dislodgements which are proven challenges in both hospitals and home care.

The company also benefits from a dedicated support provided by Eurasanté Bio-Acceleration programme, to maximise its chances of success on the French healthcare market.

PAINCHEK FOR SCOTLAND'S VETERANS

Scotland's provider for veterans, Erskine, has integrated the use of the AI-powered pain assessment tool, PainChek, to enable staff caring for residents to identify and document pain for every resident.

Erskine has adopted the technology for residents within the charity’s four care homes - totalling 339 registered beds, including residents living with dementia or significant cognitive impairment.

The PainChek app is available for use on mobile devices and uses AI to analyse micro-facial expressions indicative of pain.

Derek Barron, director of Care at Erskine, said: “The introduction of the PainChek app supports us to provide excellent care to residents by identifying those who may be in pain. 

“This is especially important for people living with dementia who may not be able to verbalise that they are in pain and become distressed due to this. Using PainChek also supports Erskine’s digital strategy and mission to lead by collaborative example in delivering outstanding, person-centred care."

FORKS OVER KNIVES DOCTORS JOIN LIFESUM'S HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD

Swedish-based global nutrition app, Lifesum, has announced that managing directors, Alona Pulde and Matthew Lederman, have joined its Health Advisory Board with the ambition of reversing disease using nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

Known for their appearance in the Forks Over Knives documentary and their book, The Forks Over Knives Plan, Dr Pulde is a family practitioner and Dr Lederman is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician.

Drs Pulde and Lederman join existing Lifesum Health Advisory Board members Christina Meyer-Jax, MS, RDN, LDN and RYT and Andrew Zimmermann, founder of Behavior Design Collective.

The Health Advisory Board’s combined expertise will aim to improve Lifesum's existing services and provide personalised nutritional recommendations and support them through their health journey. 

OMRON LAUNCHES PRODUCT FOR AFIB DETECTION AT HOME

Health monitoring and therapy company, OMRON Healthcare, has launched OMRON Complete, its first single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure (BP) monitor for home use.

The device is designed for the detection of atrial fibrillation (AFib) and incorporates clinically validated ECG technology that can be used simultaneously with the usual BP check, which could potentially decrease consultation time and unnecessary appointments.  

“It’s all about building a more complete picture of cardiovascular health,” said André van Gils, global senior general manager at OMRON Healthcare. “In providing practitioners with far more comprehensive data sets for chronic diseases such as AFib and hypertension, managing and preventing serious incidents becomes a lot more achievable. Technology like this has the power to save lives while enabling practitioners to deliver more personalised care and represents a concrete step forward in our zero cardiovascular events vision.”

APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR NHSX DIGITAL HEALTH PARTNERSHIP AWARD

NHSX's Digital Health Partnership Award applications have opened for NHS organisations that want to scale their digital health technologies.

The application bids opened on 1 July 2021 and invites applicants with technologies that enable those with long-term conditions to monitor their health at home or in the community.

Applicants must ensure that they adhere to the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria and must also be able to show evidence of the success and shared learning opportunities to come from the technologies. There are three categories of funding available: up to £100,000, £250,000 and £500,000. 

More information on how to apply can be found here.