Whether due to carelessness, bad memory, fear of side effects or failures in the medical-patient relationship, one third of the population suffering from this disease does not comply with the prescribed dose in a timely manner.
This lack of faithfulness to treatment is a serious public health problem because it can cause complications such as nephropathy, amputations and even death, in addition to shooting hospitalization costs.
José Luis López was one of those inconstant patients.“You have to fill in a booklet the date and time of the last injection and it is a very tedious roll, I never did, only when I had an appointment with the endocrine.I hoped that technology offered me an alternative, but fed up and finding nothing, I decided to develop it myself, ”says López, 41.
In society with the industrial technical engineer Jesús Arenas, he designed a clock that attaches to the pen with which the patient is injected with the medication to collect information from the day, time, dose and type of insulin used.
The device keeps the information and when it detects that the mobile to which it is decided to match it (which can be that of the same user, your partner, doctor or caregiver) is close, sends the data by Bluetooth.Thus, someone else can verify that the patient follows the treatment.
"We are in advanced conversations with glucometers manufacturers so that the device is also able to register the blood glucose level," says López, whose invention, Insulclock, won two weeks ago the third edition of the G5 Prize innovate to social entrepreneurship, endowedWith 7,000 euros.
José Luis López, main executive of Insulcloud, after receiving the G5 award innovated to social entrepreneurship for his Insulclock project, last March 9.
The company that López and Arenas have created to market the device also work so that in a second version the transmission of the data does not depend on the physical closeness of the mobile but a server in the cloud, where they would stay.From there they would go to the mobile application in real time.
In this way, the patient could be in Madrid and his daughter in Barcelona, but that would not prevent the latter from controlling that his father fulfills the therapy.Not surprisingly, they have constituted society with the name of Insulcloud.
The device, which measures 30 millimeters of height by 20 in diameter, is a plunger that has the shape of a small cap, such as that of a marker.This conforms to the end of the pen and saves the data when a button is pressed and the patient gives the puncture.
The clock can be programmed and if the user does not comply with the dose in the fixed time, activates an alarm: every 15 minutes a light is turned on and a beep sounds.If after an hour the patient still does not pay attention, sends a text message and email to his caregiver or guardian, so that he has the possibility of calling him by phone or warning him.
López's project, which is processed by the international patent, has received the support of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation, which is testing it in outpatient patients of his University Hospital, in Madrid.
In addition, the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta will perform clinical trials to verify whether the use of Insulck improves adherence to treatment, a concept that scientists use to refer to the degree of compliance with medication by patients.
López hopes that the results, which will take a year to meet, help the company to achieve public financing and internationalize the project.
“The business model is quite viable, but above all it has great social value.In the world there are 415 million diabetics and WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that within 18 years that figure will increase to 640. Only in Spain there are 1.2 millionInsulin -dependent, ”he says.
The product will go on sale in the Spanish market in the third quarter of this year, at the price of 249 euros VAT included.However, it is already possible to buy it in advance, with a discount of 50 euros, through the Insulclock website.Of course, the order will be delivered from summer."We are in conversations with pharmacies so that the client can receive it in which he is closer," he says.
Internationally, the company plans to market the device in the United States, Europe and Middle East countries such as Catar and Emirates United Arab, "where we already have contacts," he says.
Clotilde Vásquez, head of the Department of Endocrinology of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation, which has been testing technology for a year and a half, highlights that it is very useful to avoid disgust, especially among patients who in a single day must apply multiple doses."It helps them bring much greater control, both to them and us, doctors," he says.
He adds that, by facilitating the work of caregivers, it is particularly practical in the case of children and the elderly, more likely to lose the account of the number of times the medication has been administered.People who suffer from type 1 diabetes need an average of four insulin doses per day, although sometimes they may require supplements and apply up to six.
Finally, he points out that, at the hospital level, the safety and effectiveness of the treatments will increase, since the data collected by the gadget will be transmitted directly to the medical history of each patient, where they will be reflected, facilitating the work of the nurses, whichThey should no longer point them by hand.
López emphasizes that the project will also contribute to insurance companies agreed to cover with health policies to diabetic people, of which they are currently suspicious, since it will provide them with an instrument to monitor their behavior for treatment.
Since they began to develop technology in 2015, entrepreneurs have invested 1.5 million euros in R&D, an amount that they have financed with their own funds, subsidies of the Pyme Horizon 2020 instrument, Loans of Enisa and the Neotec lineof the CDTI (Center for Industrial Technological Development).
In addition, they have had the collaboration of companies such as Vodafone, Pascual Quality, Telefónica, IE, "which has given us their prototype laboratory", and Lilly and Sanofi pharmacists, among others.
"We have not needed to resort to risk capital. Yes, we are looking for a strategic partner, a technological company with sales worldwide, to distribute the product in Spain and the international market," he clarifies.
Among the finalists of the G5 Innova awards of this year, which is delivered by the company Grupo 5, also highlights another project linked to the field of health.These are Voluntechies, an association of volunteers organizing virtual reality workshops for hospitalized children.
"The idea arose in the summer of 2015," says Francisco Rojo, one of the founders of the group."After collaborating with several initiatives, we saw that virtual reality had an incredible immersion potential and could transport other people who cannot move or are locked up for some reason," he explains.
In the case of hospitalized children, the volunteer glasses, which are very similar to the Google Cardboard (made of folding cardboard, use the smartphone as a screen), transport them to the depths of the ocean, the beach or the Himalayan paths.
Since they started in March 2016, they have held more than 20 workshops in hospitals in Madrid, such as El Niño Jesús, October 12, La Paz, Ramón y Cajal and Gregorio Marañón, among others.