15 February 2018 | News
Doctors can now prescribe Wellthy Therapeutics’ 16-week diabetes intervention to their patients for effective lifestyle and diabetes management in between doctor visits
The Wellthy Diabetes smartphone app will be launched at a conference held by the Maharashtra chapter of the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI) tomorrow.
The 16-week diabetes intervention programme delivered through the mobile app will now be available for doctors in Mumbai to prescribe to their patients. The digital therapeutic app, developed by Wellthy Therapeutics in scientific collaboration with RSSDI, uses patient-centric design augmented by artificial intelligence to provide integrated care that complements the doctor consultation.
Results from several clinical pilot studies, published in leading scientific journals, have shown that patients with Type II diabetes who complete the programme reduce their HbA1C by more than 1% on average, lose significant weight, and improve their medication and diagnostic adherence.
Speaking on the launch, Dr. Amit A Saraf, Organizing Secretary, RSSDI Maharashtra said, “A chronic condition like diabetes requires regular attention and care throughout a patient’s life. Patients need to look after themselves between doctor’s appointments and during this period they often become careless in their diabetes management. We look forward to seeing our patients benefit with great outcomes using this digital therapeutic intervention.”
Clinical results on the use of the Wellthy Diabetes Digital Therapeutic app have been previously presented at conferences of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). Additional pilot results on how the app supports clinical and lifestyle management will be presented at the 11th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD 2018) in Vienna, Austria. At the same conference, clinicians will also present data on the app being a valuable intervention tool for health insurers to offer their policyholders.
Dr. Maaz Shaikh, VP - Clinical and Product, Wellthy Therapeutics, shared his thoughts on the physician launch and future prospects of the app and said, “As clinicians, we have always struggled in supporting our patients through the journey of changing their habits and maintaining healthy lifestyles. The Wellthy Diabetes App brings to us doctors a clinically validated programme that harnesses the power of medicine, data science and technology to drive and maintain behaviour change and achieve superior clinical outcomes for our patients with Type II diabetes. Finally, we will be able to provide comprehensive and continuous care to all our patients in a scalable and meaningful way.”
Dr. Shaikh will be presenting on ‘Enabling doctors to personalise care for Type-2 Diabetes with clinical and lifestyle patient journey data using the Wellthy Diabetes app’ at the conference on the 16th of February. This will be followed by an interesting first-of-its-kind session on ‘Results and implications of a health insurer adopting an RSSDI-endorsed digital diabetes intervention’
The Wellthy Diabetes programme is a clinically verified and structured 16-week program that enables persons with Type II diabetes to better manage their diabetes in between doctor appointments. It gives patients the tools to understand and monitor their food intake, take their medications on time and track their blood sugar levels.
Through the digital therapeutic app, users are assigned a dedicated Diabetes Expert, who users can chat with about all their diabetes-related questions and concerns. Every week’s completion marks the achievement of a skill learned to better self-manage diabetes. In addition, the clinically validated artificial intelligence offers real-time guidance and feedback to assist them with effective diabetes management.