Adherium wants to set up a trial of its Hailie technology in urgent care clinics.
Melbourne-based medtech Adherium is looking for federal government funding to bring its smart inhaler and remote monitoring app Hailie to urgent care clinics in Australia after successful forays into the US market.
The Hailie app provides real-time feedback to patients with asthma using a combination of remote monitoring and data management solutions to optimise inhaler use and ensure sufficient medication is delivered to the lungs.
The technology assesses the quality of a patient’s inhalation and technique-related metrics on their smartphone and provides daily reminders to take their preventer inhalers.
In 2022 the US government approved the reimbursement of remote therapeutic monitoring for patients with respiratory conditions using smart inhalers like Adherium’s Hailie.
“We have achieved great results in the US and collected significant amounts of data which underlines the value that the Hailie technology can deliver to patients and the broader health system,” said Adherium’s interim CEO Jeremy Curnock Cook.
“The next step for us is to undertake demonstration pilots back home in Australia to prove the impact the Hailie technology can have on patients with asthma.
“We will be seeking funding from the Australian government so we can help deliver this technology for about 5000 people with severe asthma over three years across 10 of the government’s urgent care clinics.
“While the health benefits for our patients are our primary focus, there are enormous potential cost savings for both federal and state governments through a reduction in the frequency of presentations to emergency departments and hospitalisations.
“We know our health system is under immense pressure across Australia and the widespread use of our technology has the potential to ease the load on our frontline health workers and improve lives.”
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According to Adherium, there were 56,600 ED presentations for asthma in Australia and 25,500 hospitalisations where the principal diagnosis was asthma in 2020-21, costing an estimated $851.7 million in healthcare expenditure.
“We want to give patients the best chance for improved health outcomes with and the most appropriate treatment,” Mr Curnock Cook said.
“Without knowing whether patients are using their inhalers correctly, doctors could be currently prescribing expensive medication at taxpayer expense to patients at about $30,000 a year when they only require more standard medication which costs about $1000 a year.”
