Barcelona, May 11, 2022 – For the fourth consecutive year, the open innovation program in digital health, Ferrer 4 Future, launches a new challenge to the entrepreneurial ecosystem of digital health start-ups. On this occasion, the initiative aims to find a solution that will improve clinical research into Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS).
During the Ibero-American Entrepreneurship Summit, organized by Barcelona Health Hub, Ferrer 4 Future presented the challenge of finding a digital technology to facilitate automated notification of the characteristics of seizures produced in people with CVS. Ensuring the correct collection of all relevant data could establish a representative pattern of patient episodes in the context of clinical studies and thus assist in the study of a potential treatment.
Typically, in a clinical trial, patients are asked to record multiple parameters of the vomiting episode in digital diaries. However, the severity of the episode in many cases makes this task difficult because the patient may be suffering from seizures, nausea, etc. That results in a loss of valuable data for researchers to fully understand the disease. Therefore, there is a real need to fill this data gap with minimal intervention for the patient.
According to Gemma Estrada, head of Ferrer's Digital Health and Technology Department, "with the aim of materializing our purpose of generating a positive impact on society, the Ferrer 4 Future program is designed to contribute to improving the patient experience, addressing aspects related to their quality of life, as well as the treatment received in terms of speed, empathy, respect and warmth. With Ferrer 4 Future we want to generate and implement solutions aimed at all the actors involved in the patient health care chain, using digital technologies in a successful and sustainable way".
Technology start-ups that wish to apply for the programme offering a possible solution to the challenge can do so until 19 June 2022, through the www.ferrer4future.com website .
The winners of previous editions:
2019: Wellthy Therapeutics
With the aim of improving interaction and adherence to treatment for people with chronic diseases, the Indian start-up, Wellthy Therapeutics, won by presenting a technological solution that is already in development.
The software health device for the management of people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAHCare™), co-developed with Ferrer, has obtained the CE mark, and is currently in the clinical study phase.
2020: Sense4Care
With the aim of improving the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's, the Catalan start-up Sense4Care and Ferrer are collaborating on a joint solution that is capable of anticipating crises in movement disorders.
2021: AcceXible and Winterlight
Ferrer Spain and Ferrer Costa Rica are studying the possibility of co-developing a solution for the screening and rehabilitation of people with mild cognitive disorders.
About Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS)
People with CVS experience recurrent episodes of nausea and vomiting, followed by periods without symptoms. An episode may be severe enough to incapacitate the person and make them unable to walk or talk. In some severe cases, it can even result in a visit to the emergency department and hospitalization.
Other symptoms that are often associated include dizziness, pale skin, lack of energy (apathy), abdominal pain, and headaches. The actual treatment of CVS is aimed at preventing, shortening or controlling episodes and reducing symptoms of abdominal pain, and is based on experience and observation. Specific therapies are tailored to each individual patient supported by the establishment of a unique pattern of episodes.
About Ferrer 4 Future
Ferrer's open innovation program in digital health, Ferrer 4 Future, created by Ferrer's Department of Digital Health and Technology, was born in 2019 with the aim of promoting digital health as a way to increase the health and well-being of society. The initiative seeks to find entrepreneurs and digital health companies with whom Ferrer can work together to develop disruptive therapeutic solutions.
Ferrer has always shown his commitment when it comes to working to respond to people's unmet needs. For this reason, the Ferrer 4 Future programme focuses on finding potential partners with whom to develop digital solutions along the entire value chain of patients (healthcare professionals, caregivers, hospitals, etc.) to address ways to improve their quality of life.
The F4F program is tailor-made, depending on the nature of each project, and the degree of maturity of the solution proposed by the start-up. The duration can vary between 6 and 18 months, during which time access to Ferrer mentors and experts is guaranteed, as well as to the company's internal resources, to speed up the creation of the solution.
