New partners join forces to market Apple watch-based Parky app
Mobile app monitors symptoms in real time to help patients manage their disease
h2o Therapeutics has partnered with AmerisourceBergen to commercialize Parky, a prescription mobile app that monitors symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease, such as tremors and involuntary muscle movements.
The Parky app monitors a patients’ symptoms in real time using an Apple Watch, and shares the data with healthcare providers. This can help patients manage their disease by tracking motor symptoms, improve adherence to taking medications, and promote physical activity.
The app is compatible with the Movement Disorder API developed by Apple, an open resource for the continuous monitoring of Parkinson’s symptoms. It received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is required to introduce a new medical device into commercial distribution.
“Following the recent FDA clearance, we continue to focus on strategies and solutions that will enable us to expand patient access to Parky,” Yagmur Selin Gulmus, founder of h2o Therapeutics, said in a press release.
App automates journaling process for patients
Parkinson’s disease affects more than 10 million people worldwide, including about one million in the U.S. The disease is characterized by motor symptoms, including tremors and slow and rigid movements. Involuntary muscle movements, called dyskinesia, are a common side effect of medications used to manage Parkinson’s symptoms.
Patients typically need to perform physical diagnostic testing at a clinic to rate the severity of their symptoms and keep diaries when not at the clinic to give their physicians a broader look at their disease progression over time.
By using the app, that process is automatic and continuous, and data are presented to patients and physicians in graphs, allowing easier visualization of daily symptom fluctuations, in the range of minutes or hours.
The app was clinically validated in 343 individuals with Parkinson’s, and was found to capture symptom changes in response to treatment that matched the clinician’s expectations in 94% of the cases.
As part of a pilot project, AmerisourceBergen will help with patient engagement and health system integration services through its DTx Connect cloud-based platform.
DTx Connect allows patients access to digital therapeutics and diagnostics required by their physician, and provides alerts on their health status to physicians.
“Through this arrangement with AmerisourceBergen, our goal is to reduce barriers along the patient journey, improve access and expand our commercial reach,” Gulmus said.
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