Indian telehealth app offers COVID-19 virtual consultations

Indian digital health startup 5e Healthcare is now offering virtual consultations for COVID-19 patients through its mobile app.

Its 5eCare app assists both asymptomatic and suspected COVID-19 patients in accessing remote care within 15 minutes of booking. Attending doctors are giving out digital prescriptions to their patients through the platform after consultations.

"We aim to mitigate multiple risks associated with in-person consultation by reducing loads on doctors and medical staff, visit patient loads, safe implementation of healthcare protocols, and more," 5e Healthcare CEO Sudarsan Parida said in a press statement.

More than a hundred doctors have joined the 5eCare app since its launch. The app is available on both iOS and Android devices.

Eisai, ITO EN team up for initiatives tackling dementia

Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai and drinks company ITO EN have recently disclosed their partnership that will deliver initiatives dealing with dementia. 

In a joint statement, the companies said their partnership will combine Eisai's dementia awareness activities and brain performance digital self-check tool called NouKNOW and ITO EN's customer network.

They will support local governments' brain health projects by providing a packaged solution consisting of Eisai's information materials for dementia awareness and ITO EN's services related to the green tea variant matcha and health, as well as free brain health checks using NouKNOW.

A product set consisting of ITO EN matcha powder sticks, a prepaid card for NouKNOW and information materials will also be distributed across Japan.

The partnership also brings Eisai's dementia awareness materials and NouKNOW services to ITO EN's events and campaigns.

Moreover, brain performance checks are being conducted on ITO EN employees as part of NouKNOW's trial for corporate health examinations.

Digital therapeutics market seen hitting $13 billion by 2027

The global digital therapeutics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.5% by 2027, potentially reaching a value of around $13 billion, according to a recently published report by India-based UnivDatos Market Insights.

The report said the global market for digital therapeutics is "experiencing significant growth" on the back of rising patient count and higher mortality rate due to chronic diseases. The World Health Organization previously projected a 57% increase in chronic diseases in 2020.

The market's potential growth is also associated with the rising number of smartphone and internet users and the numerous healthcare applications being launched across different platforms. Citing data from Statista, the report said there were around 3.5 billion smartphone users globally in 2019. Meanwhile, in the US, approximately 64% of adults regularly use health metric apps.

"Additionally, the surging cost for treatment and hospitalisation coupled with the increasing geriatric population is also a major reason for people shifting towards more cost-effective health solutions propelling the growth of digital therapeutics markets all over the globe," UnivDatos Market Insights said in a press statement.

Moreover, the research firm noted there are nearly 44 million digital therapeutics users across the world; this count is expected to hit almost 652 million by 2025 with the majority of users situated in North America.

Major players in the digital therapeutics space include Fitbit, Omada Health, Pear Therapeutics, Medtronic and Livongo Health.

Indian online portal COVID-19 vaccine information campaign

Leading Doctors, an online aggregator of medical information based in India, recently launched its COVID to CoWIN campaign to disseminate information encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a press statement, the startup said the information they are propagating is given by doctors themselves. So far, the information drive has reached more than 7 million people through its website. 

Leading Doctors also unveiled a coffee table book featuring over 50 doctors in Gujarat and their experiences during the pandemic. It was created "to provide service and proper information to the people of the society without any commercial purpose," as well as to honour the contribution of the featured physicians. A video version of the book was made available online.