Nordic digital therapeutics company SidekickHealth is partnering with pharma giant Pfizer to launch a digital therapeutics platform, in a deal thought to be worth more than $8 million.

The solution combines scientific expertise and digital technologies, giving patients a tool to help them maintain healthy lifestyles and improve their disease management and quality of life, while providing guidance and resources to facilitate easier and faster communication with healthcare professionals.

The platform will initially be rolled out in Finland and made available for ulcerative colitis (UC) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria later this year, with plans to eventually expand the reach.

WHY IT MATTERS

The collaboration aims to empower patients to take control of their health and focuses on a number of therapeutic areas including the two main inflammatory bowel disease conditions (IBD); UC and Crohn’s disease, as well as RA, atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). 

For IBD alone, it is estimated that there are as many as three million sufferers in Europe, costing up to €5.6 billion per year in direct healthcare costs. By providing patients with the ability to better manage their own health, with ongoing information and support, it aims to allow them to tailor their care, potentially reducing the impact of autoimmune diseases on healthcare organisations.     

THE LARGER CONTEXT 

The announcement follows a strategic partnership between Sidekick and Bayer revealed last year, to provide a digital medication management and lifestyle change platform to patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD).

Sidekick Nordic is also working with the COVID-19 response team in Iceland to provide its digital therapeutics platform to people who have been diagnosed with the virus.

ON THE RECORD 

Rob Day, Western Europe cluster lead, inflammation and immunology group at Pfizer, said: “At Pfizer we are committed to enabling health living, and as part of this we are constantly looking for new partners and digital solutions that can significantly improve the lives of patients. Partnering with digital experts such as Sidekick will further support Pfizer’s breakthrough therapies in an area where the burden of disease among patients is significant.”

Dr Tryggvi Thorgeirsson, Sidekick cofounder and chief executive officer, said: “Pfizer continues to be at the forefront of the transformation of medicine, and we share their vision to empower people to better manage their own health and improve their quality of life. Our partnership with Pfizer has the potential to help a vast number of people do just that across multiple geographies, and as such, is precisely what we created Sidekick to do.”