Asthma affects hundreds of millions of people globally
\nWhile inhalers are effective, people are not taking them correctly
\nAdherium addresses this problem, as we reached out to CEO Paul Mastoridis<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide, affecting more than 300 million sufferers of all ages globally.<\/p>\n
In the US alone, this disease costs the American healthcare system US$82 billion a year.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re of course talking about asthma<\/strong> \u2013 a common chronic respiratory condition that affects the airways, causing them to become inflamed and narrow, leading to symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness.<\/p>\n Unfortunately there\u2019s really no cure at the moment for both asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).<\/p>\n \u201cPatients are going to have the disease for the rest of their lives, so they have to take these inhalers for the rest of their lives,\u201d said Dr\u00a0Paul Mastoridis,<\/strong> the newly hired CEO of Adherium (ASX:ADR)<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>which is\u00a0a sub $10m market capped company focusing on this space.<\/p>\n \u201cBut along the way, we don\u2019t do a good job of educating patients about why it\u2019s important to take these inhalers every day.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people say \u2018well I feel good today\u2019, so they forget about taking it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s when you feel good that bad things happen, because when you stop taking that medication, all of a sudden you get an asthma attack,\u201d said Mastoridis.<\/p>\n Adherium\u2019s technology solves that problem by attaching sensors to the inhalers to not only remind people to take the medicine, but also telling them whether they\u2019re inhaling it correctly.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Called the Hailie Smartinhaler<\/strong>, Adherium says it\u2019s one of the leading, technically advanced Digital Adherence Monitoring Systems<\/em> in the world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Source: Adherium<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Hailie device attaches on to the inhaler and is linked to an app<\/a> (paired via Bluetooth), giving valuable information such as how regular and how well patients are inhaling the medicine to make sure they\u2019re taking it as prescribed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have good evidence showing that patients who do take their medication as prescribed \u2013 ie; they\u2019re adherent to their medication or at least 80% adherent \u2013 will have less exacerbations, less asthma attacks, less ER visits, less hospitalisations, and subsequently, less deaths,\u201d Mastoridis told Stockhead.<\/em><\/p>\n Another problem that patients have is they\u2019re not taking their asthma inhalers correctly, or what\u2019s called \u2018poor technique\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have over six sensors built into the Hailie device. The sensors have rotations that will allow you to know if you\u2019re rotating the inhaler correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n The sensors also measure flow rate; in other words, it can tell if you\u2019re actually inhaling the medicine optimally into your lungs.<\/p>\n \u201cJust pressing the button [of the inhaler] doesn\u2019t give you credit for adherence on our platform. You must physically take the medication into your lungs to get credit for adherence,\u201d explained Mastoridis.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s really a technologically advanced pioneering system that helps patients, and provides lots of information to physicians on how to manage that patient.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mastoridis says Adherium is the only company out there with the technology that provides this kind of service.<\/p>\n As such, the device recently received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with AstraZeneca\u2019s Airsupra<\/strong> and Breztri<\/strong> inhalation devices.<\/p>\n Airsupra is the first FDA approved rescue medication for asthma patients, while Breztri is a triple combination for COPD patients.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been partners with AstraZeneca for a while, as we were involved in some of their clinical trials. But this was the first time AstraZeneca has a rescue medication that\u2019s been approved by the FDA, and it\u2019s the only one of its kind,\u201d said Mastoridis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now have over 90% of the inhalers out there that fit our Hailie device.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn total, we have 12 FDA approved devices. So we can now say to the physicians, whatever device or whatever drug you want to give to patients, we have a Hailie device.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, Mastoridis says that Adherium is essentially moving from a clinical trial company to a data management company.<\/p>\n \u201cThe patient gives us consent, and we can use that to collect information such as how well they\u2019re reacting to medication, or what type of patients they are.<\/p>\n \u201cThose data can then be given to health insurers, allergy partners, or the governments who are paying for this.<\/p>\n \u201cMore importantly, we can use this data to build an AI (artificial intelligence) system to be able to predict an asthma attack before it happens.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there\u2019s a lot of information and value in the data that we have,\u201d says Mastoridis.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Over the next two years, the sole focus of Adherium will purely be on the US market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US is where we get reimbursement, so we need to get the model right there. We need to work with allergy partners and SENTA to grow the business,\u201d Mastoridis said.<\/p>\n SENTA (Southern Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy)<\/em> is one of the largest, premier specialty allergy and asthma groups in the US. In September 2023, Adherium announced that the Hailie platform would become available to SENTA clinics and patients.<\/p>\n Adherium is also collaborating on a study conducted by US-based Intermountain Health<\/strong>, one of the largest hospital systems in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing a study with them to see if our Hailie products can prevent hospital readmissions after 30 days,\u201d says Mastoridis, adding that Intermountain is often cited by US Presidents, and works with the CMS, Medicare, and most other payors in the US medical system.<\/p>\n \u201cCMS is very much interested in that study, because if we can prove that Hailie is able to prevent readmissions, hospitalisations, and ER visits, it will become a standard of care not only for Intermountain, but for all of the US in both asthma and COPD.\u201d<\/p>\n Mastoridis also believes that the Adherium stock is undervalued at the current price of 2c.<\/p>\n \u201cThat price is nothing compared to where we\u2019re going and what we\u2019re going to do.\u00a0Right now is the first time we\u2019re actually getting reimbursement in the US for our services.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the biggest pharmaceutical market and in a country where these devices can actually get paid.\u00a0So I believe now is the time to invest in us,\u201d said Mastoridis.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Respiri (ASX:RSH)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Respiri is the maker of the wheezo<\/em> medical device, which is said to be the world-first FDA-approved Class II medical device that analyses breath sounds for wheeze in asthma patients.<\/p>\n The device works with the Respiri app, enabling users to log symptoms and triggers.<\/p>\n Like Adherium, Respiri is also focusing on the US market, and has this week announced a 3-year contract with Hawaii Independent Physician Association (HIPA) \u2013 \u00a0Hawaii\u2019s largest association of independent physicians \u2013 to deliver remote patient monitoring (RPM) services to high-risk patients.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Medical Development International (ASX:MVP)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n MVP\u2019s flagship product is Penthrox, commonly known as the \u2018green whistle\u2019.<\/p>\n MVP has reported positive momentum on the Penthrox entry to the US market, with a meeting with the FDA conducted in October last year.<\/p>\n The company says its priority now is to forge a deeper understanding of US market potential, sales channels, potential partners and opportunities.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ResApp<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Worth mentioning here is ResApp, a University of Queensland startup that was acquired by Pfizer in 2022 for $179 million (and now no longer listed on the ASX).<\/p>\n ResApp developed simple and inexpensive smartphone technology that can accurately identify respiratory diseases based on cough analysis.<\/p>\n The technology records a patient\u2019s cough on a smartphone and analyses sounds and simple symptoms, such as a runny nose, to diagnose and measure the severity of a range of chronic and acute diseases.<\/p>\n They include asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, croup and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n \ufeff<\/span>\ufeff<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The views, information, or opinions expressed in the interview in this article are solely those of the interviewee and do not represent the views of Stockhead.<\/em><\/p>\n Stockhead has not provided, endorsed or otherwise assumed responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Adherium\u2019s focus on US market could pay off big time for its novel asthma device<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How the device\u00a0works<\/strong><\/h2>\n
FDA and Artificial Intelligence<\/h2>\n
Focus on the US market<\/h2>\n
Other ASX respiratory focused stocks<\/h2>\n
Share prices today:<\/h2>\n