Our HealthXL meetings in February covered everything from ‘The Role of the Consumer Experience in DTx’ to ‘Digital Health for Trigger Management in Autoimmune Conditions’. 

To make sure you’re not missing out on these insightful discussions between community members and to keep you plugged into the conversation, here are my top five meeting takeaways from the past month: 

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1. Digital Health Consumer Adoption is Driven by Four Forces

David Schonthal and Lee Shapiro from 7wire Ventures led our meeting on ‘The Role of the Consumer Experience in DTx’ where we focused on dissecting human and consumer-centric design aspects that need to be front and centre in designing DTx solutions.

David highlighted four key forces of resistance that are often overlooked by innovators in the development process and can hinder consumer adoption of digital health solutions.

1. The push of the situation: To change consumer habits, there must be a strong enough driving force to recognize that the status quo is no longer sufficient, and a change to their habits need to be made. 

2. The magnetism of the offer: The new solutions' extensive range of features and benefits must capture people's attention. 

3. The anxiety around the new solution: The adoption of a new solution can evoke feelings of fear and trepidation for the consumer. Entrepreneurs should ensure there is no ambiguity for the consumer around the solution. 

4. The habit of the present: Overcoming the existing habits and inertia that exist around the current solution is necessary to effect change. 

By accounting for these external factors, innovators can create personalised solutions that meet patients' needs, whilst ensuring a top-notch consumer experience. 
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2. Well-Matched Partnerships will Realise the Potential of AI in Drug Discovery

We recently hosted a Webinar on ‘The Potential of AI in Drug Discovery’ where we were joined by experts Katie Hewitt (VP and Chief Business Officer, Lilly New Ventures), Kevin Heyries (Co-founder, AbCellera) and Armen Vidian (Venture Capitalist). 

The group agreed that while ​​long-term collaborations with pharma companies will be key for success in this field, it may be more beneficial for AI companies to first establish small-scale partnerships that can then be expanded once positive outcomes are demonstrated. A good example of this is the multi-year collaboration between Abcellera and Eli Lily that focused on identifying antibodies for Covid-19, resulting in the fastest ever launch of a therapeutic agent. 

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It’s clear that the right partner should be aligned with your company’s goals, and help derive value from unique opportunities for both parties. 

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3. Sleep is the Most Mature Digital Biomarker

Our meeting on ‘Digital Biomarkers for Mental Health Evaluation and Management’, led by George Eleftheriou (Co-founder & CEO, Feel Therapeutics) and Myles Furnace (Commercial VP, Closed Loop Medicine) focused on digital biomarkers, and how they’re a critical part of the future of digital health for mental health conditions. Yet the challenges associated with digital biomarkers, like selecting the best biomarker, choosing the most appropriate data collection device/method and gaining clinical validation, need to be addressed further. 

We all agreed that sleep monitoring was the most sophisticated and universal biomarker currently available. Basic technology such as smartphones and smartwatches can measure sleep, allowing for the widespread use of the data in almost every therapeutic area. However, innovators must aim to strike a balance between easily accessible sleep monitoring through consumer products, and the quality of data generated by the devices when determining the methods of measurement. Clinical-grade solutions offer sophisticated data, but they may not always be required and can add sometimes unnecessary barriers and costs. As continuous sleep monitors become more advanced, it is possible that consumer-facing devices may become more suitable for gathering sleep data as a digital biomarker. 

Do you think a consumer-facing device like WHOOP or FitBit can become the standard for sleep data collection for mental health solutions? 

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4. Sham Products in DTx Trials Should Be Indistinguishable From the Intervention Group

The Masterclass by Dr. Acacia Parks on ‘Endpoints and Control Arms in Trials for DTx’ provided great insights into why selecting the right endpoints and control arms is important for commercial success when designing a clinical trial for a DTx solution.

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When it comes to trialling digital health solutions, it’s important to ensure that sham products are indistinguishable from the intervention group. In traditional clinical trials, developing a control arm with a placebo drug is straightforward. But with digital health solutions, this can be more challenging. Using the same digital solution for both the intervention and sham groups while changing the information provided, capitalises on all the hard work that goes into the app. Else, what would be the point of doing a placebo if it is obvious the users are in the control group.

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This approach allows one to leverage a minimally modified solution, rather than having to develop new solutions for the sham arm; it also increases the reliability of the experiment. It’s critical to match the sham and intervention groups in terms of duration and intensity to ensure they are indistinguishable, and the outcome is a fair representation of the active intervention's impact compared to the sham. This is a crucial factor for regulatory authorities when evaluating clinical trials; paying heed to best practices on control arm design will increase the likelihood of getting FDA approval.

5. Digital Health Vendors Looking to Access the UK Healthcare Market: Head to the National Health Service (NHS)

Richard Bunney's Materclass on ‘How to Navigate the NHS Digital Technology Assessment Criteria and NICE evidence guidelines’ was an excellent opportunity for participants to gain a better understanding of the fragmented and complex system that is the National Health Service (NHS), and learn ways on how to navigate the landscape. 

Richard’s most important tip was to approach the NHS innovation system directly for an initial conversation. Due to its vast network of organisations, they can assist digital health companies on the right next steps, help frame appropriate study questions, and facilitate connections to the best people who can help successfully navigate the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) and The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. 

Richard also spoke about how to navigate the DTAC assessment process, how to meet the NHS clinical safety standards, and covered the basics of the NICE framework. 

These are just a few key insights from some of our discussions last month. Head over to our platform to read through the takeaways from all our past meetings on a host of digital health topics. Or better again, apply to attend an upcoming virtual meeting or in-person event. 

Collaboration and innovation are growing stronger across digital health, and we’re excited to bring new discussions on areas like extended-reality (XR) solutions in mental health, patient engagement metrics in digital health for oncology, current state of routes to market in digital health and more in March. 

See you in a HealthXL meeting soon!

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