A newly-minted partnership between pharma group Eli Lilly and digital health innovator Sidekick Health has kicked off in a fittingly ingenious fashion, with the pair taking a crack at designing a smartphone-based treatment guidance system for breast cancer patients. Their integrated digital therapeutic (DTx) is meant to steer patients toward improving health behaviors while fostering adherence to drug treatments, which is often done through savvy management of side effects. Patients treated with Lilly’s popular oncology drugs, such as CDK 4/6 inhibitor Verzenio (abemaciclib) for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, are the main focus of the DTx.
Iceland-based Sidekick brings to the table its knack for digital health app development; its current portfolio covers considerations like tailored diet, sleep, stress management, and medication adherence. “At Sidekick, it is our goal to empower patients to take real steps toward better managing their disease and alleviating the negative side effects of treatment,” said Dr. Tryggvi Thorgeirsson, Sidekick’s Chief Executive Officer. “Cancer treatment often leaves patients physically and emotionally drained and, as a result, we are making it as easy and convenient as possible to access life-saving guidance by bringing healthcare into people’s homes.
Sidekick has even more in store in this space, and its collaborations with numerous other pharma companies on drug therapy companion apps include a team-up with Pfizer on atopic dermatitis and a peripheral artery disease pact with Bayer. Anthem has additionally tapped the company for digital-centric care programs targeting patients struggling with Crohn’s disease and other chronic conditions.
