HealthBeacon raises €1m in seed funding to roll out medical adherence device internationally
London, UK (February 9th, 2016)
Earlier today HealthBeacon, a digital health platform connecting devices and data for better health delivery, announced the completion of its €1m seed investment round to support the launch of its medical adherence device for patients on self injectable medications. The announcement came during an exclusive digital health care event at the Imperial College of London.
HealthBeacon, founded in 2014, by both Jim Joyce, serial healthcare entrepreneur, and Kieran Daly, former CEO of Shimmer, developed its first device – to help patients on self injectable medication adhere to their medical schedules.
Medical adherence, helping patients comply with treatment regimens is one of the largest problems facing healthcare systems. Evidence suggests that patients on average comply with their medicine schedules only 50-70% of the time. The pharmaceutical market for patients who self administer medicines by injections is estimated to be over €40b.
“2016, will be a breakout year for the HealthBeacon platform, our first product for self injectable medications is being rolled out internationally to 1,000s of patients”, said Jim Joyce, co-founder HealthBeacon, at the digital health event in London.
Millions of patients worldwide treat devastating chronic diseases like Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Gastro Conditions, and Heart Disease by self administering injections in their home. Unfortunately, many of these patients struggle to comply with their treatment.
The HealthBeacon team has designed a device that knows when a patient has taken their medication and critically if they have forgotten, or missed a dose. If they miss an injection, their HealthBeacon will send a simple reminder to their phone. The result is potentially a more compliant and healthier patient.
“HealthBeacon is a significant advancement in the management of self injectable medications, we can now have confidence that a patient has taken their medication on time when in the home“, said Professor Douglas Veale, Consultant Rheumatologist, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University College Dublin.
The company launched the device in Ireland in 2015 and has worked with Cleveland Clinic Innovation Centre to assess how the tool could be integrated into clinical care pathways globally.
“HealthBeacon is putting a focus on the very important issue of improving medical adherence, while trying to improve overall patient/physican engagement and health delivery”, said Brian Kolonick, General Manager, Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance, Cleveland Clinic.
The funding from the seed round will be used to commercially roll out the tool across Europe. Investors in the seed round include the Irish government through Enterprise Ireland, and private medical and technology angel investors.
HealthBeacon’s digital platform exploits the increased trend in healthcare to connect devices and data for better health delivery. The internet of things (IoT) trend will drive fast adoption and scaling of the platform, especially as it supports lower cost health delivery in the community of patients who previously were only administered their treatment in hospital.