GHP November 2016

ghp November 2016 | 17 Richard Lucas, Founding Director of Innovation adds, “sharing copyright ePrints of publications ensures doctors are able to assess the available data and to evaluate the treatment choices they are making for patients. Doctors interact with copyright content through field force, at congresses and conferences, via websites, mobile apps, in print and other channels. This vital scientific information must be made available wherever doctors need it and in compliance with copyright, industry rules and government regulation”. As well as making content available via conventional channels - Lucas also stresses how Vendit “integrates easily with brand websites, portals and eDetailing platforms”. Lucas added, “what really drives me is my grandfather, Arnold, who started his business from a wheelbarrow in Lawton Street, Liverpool. He was a successful businessman who in 1968 was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.” “This long term chronic condition defined the last 17 years of my grandfather’s life. I grew up hearing the stories of how well this frail old man had run and managed his business and yet, when I knew him, he couldn’t hold a conversation or walk down the street. “Everyone has stories like this and we all want to know that the specialists treating our loved ones have the latest data at their fingertips to ensure the best available treatments are employed.” Tangent 90 currently provide services to the UK NHS for the distribution of patient materials from healthcare professionals. The latest platform, built in partnership with Nexgen Healthcare, Ltd. will be presented in the Disruptor Zone at London International 2016. The platform enables scientists to organise, narrate and share clinical posters with their audience. Lucas would like to encourage more professionals to use the SaaS platform to share evidence based patient support materials to their community and gives his thoughts on the future of mobile healthcare: In Lucas’ view, many mobile apps and devices haven’t yet been validated to prove that they provide real clinical evidence of efficacy. Clinical evidence of safety and efficacy are a real and current focus of healthcare systems such as the NHS. Such focus should be the mantra of every health and wellbeing app developer. Evidence of beneficial effect is your real differentiator.” Lucas also believes that individualised optimum wellness should surely be the goal of apps and platforms in the mobile health space. “Precision medicine and sustainable care are creating new pathways for the mobile generation. Advances are also needed in interoperability, content licensing and security, not to mention communication of the evidence based information sources and products already out there. “For us, the expanding levels of transparency in the sector are opening up new and exciting opportunities. The Vendit team have recently partnered with BigChainDb to build a public transparency ledger. Wouldn’t it be easier for enterprise, doctors and regulators if regulated transparent value transfers were immediately placed on an immutable public ledger when the contract is signed and the transaction is recognised?” The team behind the Vendit Saas platform, Tangent 90 have built apps to support patients from conditions only affecting one in a million through to maternity education of all expectant mothers. Providing real utility to the users of the app and a record of care for the clinician are the gold standards that every developer should strive for. Tangent 90 have built structured content collections for all stakeholders in the sector. These range from clinical trial investigators through to disease awareness for the public. Tangent 90 have also built remote diagnosis and treatment sites for the NHS, corporate websites, training sites for investigators, individual brand and country portals, as well as a wide array of portals for healthcare. The Tangent 90 team has delivered across a range of sectors and won awards for the platforms created. Every brief starts with a conversation, which develops into a discussion document and iterates into a quotation. The team run ‘innovation’ labs and ‘hackathons’ to generate novel solutions to market challenges. In every case, they work to clarify the business model so that it delivers a validated solution to meet the needs of all the stakeholders. When it comes to evidence based discussion online, Lucas calls into question the value of forums and social media, recognising that it is welcome for holistic support but has huge potential for mis-leading the vulnerable. “Community-based social media is a powerful force for change with which industry can, understandably, struggle to engage. Tangent 90 encourage all community moderators to check claims with fact checking sites such as Quackwatch.com and uphold the principles of HON.ch as a minimum. From patient information through to information provided to doctors, it is imperative to educate and inform the guardians of these communities, to ensure they operate responsibly for their users, and provide access to ethical educational content where appropriate.”