November 9, 2021 2 minute read

Kaiku Health, the developer of a digital health intervention service in oncology, and MSD Germany, an affiliate of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, collaborate to develop digital patient monitoring and management for lung cancer patients.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancer types. While it especially affects smokers, lung adenocarcinomas have also been rising in incidence in non-smokers and young women without a clear reason. Furthermore, the survival rates of lung cancer are much lower than for many other cancers, and the prognosis rather dismal.

Together, Kaiku Health and MSD Germany are aiming to improve access to personalized digital health interventions for lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. In this case, the Kaiku Health Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor module will be used to connect patients with their healthcare providers. The Artificial Intelligence-enabled digital solution allows them to follow up on relevant symptoms, provides personalized guidance on symptom self-management, and ensures access for patients to educational materials. The Kaiku Health service will also automatically notify the care team if a patient’s symptoms worsen during the course of treatment.

“Oncology is one of MSD’s core areas of expertise. By collaborating with Kaiku Health, we are taking the logical next step to support the use of digital therapeutics.”, says Chantal Friebertshäuser, Managing Director of MSD Germany.

“We are excited to collaborate with MSD on helping lung cancer patients to reach more personalized digital health interventions. One of the reasons why Germany is a particularly interesting market to operate in, is due to the reimbursement pathways offered for digital applications in healthcare.“, continues Lauri Sippola, the CEO of Kaiku Health.

In the initial phase of the collaboration, the goal is to pilot the immunotherapy module in cancer centers located in Germany.