- Based in Barcelona, Ephion Health has been set up by the technology centre Eurecat, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and The Collider, the innovation programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital).
- Ephion Health’s new software makes it possible to monitor each patient objectively and accurately, either in the hospital or remotely, and to analyse their functional capacity with artificial intelligence algorithms.
- Ephion Health has validated its technology with Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients within the framework of the 6MWT+ (The Six Minutes Walk Test Plus System) project supported by EIT Health.
- It is estimated that at least 25 percent of the population have diseases and conditions affecting mobility.
9 November, 2021
Barcelona, 9 November 2021. The technology centre Eurecat, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and The Collider, the innovation programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital), have created Ephion Health. The company will market the first digital platform that uses artificial intelligence to monitor the progress of patients with diseases and conditions that affect mobility, estimated to be at least 25 percent of the population.
The platform, developed by Eurecat and transferred to Ephion Health as part of its technology valuation work, has been validated with people suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy as part of the 6MWT+ (The Six Minutes Walk Test Plus System) project, funded and supported by EIT Health since 2019.
The platform currently makes it possible to measure patients’ mobility and functional capacity by integrating up to eight types of biomechanical and physiological sensors that allow up to five types of variables to be collected.
This data is collected through a mobile app and transmitted securely and anonymously to the company’s servers. Finally, the data is analysed using artificial intelligence algorithms and a single index (a score from 0 to 100) is obtained, which is directly related to the patient’s state of health.
Ephion Health’s software thus enables “objective and precise patient monitoring, whether in the hospital or remotely,” said Mireia Claramunt, a Eurecat researcher and the company’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer).
“The ability to move around easily and perform everyday tasks is the first thing that many diseases cause to deteriorate”, so “improving, restoring or even slowing down the progressive loss of these faculties linked to mobility and functional capacity is the main concern of most patients”, added Sebastian Idelsohn, also a Eurecat researcher and CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) of Ephion Health.
Ephion Health’s goal “is to expand the number of diseases the platform can monitor”. Two new clinical studies have thus been launched with patients with neuromuscular diseases at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Sant Joan de Déu hospitals. A third pilot study is being conducted in collaboration with Quirón Salud to monitor the risk of falls in elderly people, according to Quique Llaudet, Ephion’s CEO.
Preliminary studies conducted by Ephion Health suggest that use of this technology in clinical practice “could save the European healthcare system at least one billion euros,” said Joe Zakzeski, Ephion’s COO (Chief Operating Officer).
In addition, Felip Miralles, the manager of Eurecat’s Digital Health unit and a scientific advisor to the company, pointed out that Ephion’s technology would also speed up clinical research “by aiding the development of new drugs for diseases that affect patients’ mobility more quickly and economically”. Ephion Health offers its platform to pharmaceutical companies to develop and introduce digital endpoints in their clinical trials.
Currently, questionnaires in which patients can rate their faculties are used to measure mobility and functional capacity. These opinions are useful for health professionals, but are limited by their subjective nature. In order to obtain more objective data about patients’ mobility and functional capacity, functional tests are also carried out. In one of these, the patient walks down a hospital corridor and the clinician assesses his/her mobility. These tests are widely used in research and clinical care, but they still involve a degree of subjectivity, are not completely accurate, require optimal patient collaboration, and must be performed in the hospital in the presence of a clinical assessor.
A platform validated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients
The Ephion Health platform was developed and validated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, as part of the European 6MWT+ (The Six Minutes Walk Test Plus System) project thanks to financial support and training by EIT Health and access to its European network of innovators, the largest community of leading health innovators, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a European Union body.
The Rigshospitalet hospital in Copenhagen, the University of Barcelona, the Duchenne Parent Project Spain Family Association and Genesis Biomed, a health sector consultancy, also took part in the project coordinated by Eurecat.
This genetic disease affects mostly males and causes progressive loss of muscle mass, so DMD patients experience a gradual decrease in mobility. An estimated 40,000 patients in Europe suffer from this dystrophy.
By using the Ephion Health platform, medical staff were able to follow their patients’ progress in a more accurate and sensitive way, enabling more personalised and effective treatment. Ephion Health’s platform to monitor DMD patients has already been clinically validated and is in the process of certification, so it will be available on the market in the coming months.
You can watch Ephion Health’s video through this link
For further information, please contact Eurecat’s press office at the e-mail address premsa@eurecat.org or by calling +34630425169.
About Eurecat
Eurecat-Technology Centre of Catalonia combines the experience of more than 650 professionals who generate an annual turnover of 50 million euros and provide services to nearly 2,000 companies. Applied R&D, technological services, highly specialised training, technological consultancy and professional events are some of the services that Eurecat offers to large, small and medium-sized companies in all sectors. With facilities in Barcelona, Canet de Mar, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Girona, Lleida, Manresa, Mataró, Reus, Tarragona, Amposta and Vila-seca, it participates in more than 200 large national and international R&D&I consortia projects with high strategic value and has 153 patents and 8 spin-offs. The added value provided by Eurecat accelerates innovation, reduces spending on scientific and technological infrastructures, reduces risks and provides specialised knowledge tailored to each company. See more information on www.eurecat.org
About Hospital Sant Joan de Déu’s Innovation Unit
Since 2009, the hospital has had an Innovation Unit to help promote solutions in the fields of paediatrics and maternal health. The unit collaborates with national and European R&D projects and works with companies to promote their ideas by providing knowledge in the clinical and paediatric fields. Since its creation, the unit has generated 46 patents, 16 licences and 5 spin-offs. It currently leads the i4Kids Paediatric Innovation HUB, which brings together more than 25 organisations in the ecosystem that focus on bringing paediatric solutions to market more rapidly. See more information on https://www.innovation4kids.org
About EIT Health
EIT Health is a community of world-leading health innovators supported by the European Union. Its network connects approximately 150 partner organisations, as well as entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs from the worlds of business, research, education and healthcare. With its headquarters in Munich, six regional innovation hubs and the InnoStars cluster, which brings together organisations from regions where the overall pace of innovation is more moderate, it provides an ecosystem in which ideas can flourish. EIT Health is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a European Union body. Its ambition is to enable people in Europe to live longer, healthier lives by transforming companies and delivering new products and services that can advance healthcare in Europe and strengthen the economy. See more information on www.eithealth.eu
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