Biotech and digital therapeutics companies partner to provide 360 view of IBD with biomarker integration

Ampersand Health and Calpro AS, a Svar Life Science company, have announced a new partnership integrating the CalproSmart™ Self-Test into Ampersand’s My IBD Care, a behavioural science based digital therapeutic app for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). 

The integration will enable patients to initiate the CalproSmart Self-Test from home, and share the results in the app for clinicians to review alongside lifestyle, symptom and wearable data on a single dashboard portal that provides a 360 view of a person’s condition. This enables greater patient autonomy and self management, as well as a more accurate view of greater disease progression for clinicians.

Specialising in immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), Ampersand Health has seen great success with My IBD Care; used by over 50,000 people and in the UK, as well as by NHS Trusts across the UK, to transform the long term management of IBD.   

Traditionally people living with complex long-term conditions attend hospital on a scheduled basis for routine review, which means that care does not coincide with a flare or specific clinical need when care and clinical support is most valuable and effective. In addition to extensive self-management support, Ampersand Health’s digital therapeutic is an interface between clinicians and those living with these conditions, enabling asynchronous communication and remote monitoring. Patients are able to get the right support when they need it most, tackling challenges as soon as they arise rather than waiting for a routine check in. 

Based on the self-reported data, clinicians are also directly alerted when a patient may be in need of specific intervention or care, which means that flares can be managed quickly and effectively, often dealing with symptoms before reaching a full flare up. This has led to 89% fewer A&E admissions, a 33-47% increase in healthcare service efficiencies and 85% patient preference compared with traditional models.

The app can be used by a patient indepently to help them self-manage through educational resources and courses, or in conjunction with a clinical team if their hospital uses the platform. When My Arthritis is used in partnership with a patient and their clinical team, it facilitates patient initiated follow up and improves clinical safety for patients in virtual care through two-way, asynchronous communication, outside of regular outpatient appointments, revolutionising the way that we provide care for people living with arthritis. 

The CalproSmart Self-Test is used at home by IBD patients to monitor inflammation status in the bowel. By following the simple step-by-step guidance and capturing an image of the test cassette using a mobile phone, the results are read by an e-health application and are displayed, showing the inflammation level (mg/kg) with traffic light indication for the patient. Clinicians are directly alerted if a patient needs specific intervention or care, which means that flares can be managed quickly and effectively, often dealing with symptoms before reaching a full flare up.

“Healthcare is becoming an integral part of our everyday lives – regardless of whether we are healthy or ill, young or old. E-Health has in the recent years emerged as a great tool for patients to remain prolonged periods in remission,” says Anne Thjømøe, Chief Executive Officer of Calpro AS. “This collaboration combines the strengths of our two organizations and will help deliver the future of IBD patient care to both patients and health care professionals. We fundamentally believe collaboration builds better, safer, more individualized care for patients”.

Nader Alaghband, Founder & CEO of Ampersand Health said:

“This partnership with Calpro marks an important milestone in enabling patients to feel more in control of their condition. My IBD Care is the ideal platform for the CalproSmart™ Self-Test, meaning that patients and clinicians can monitor important biomarkers without checking multiple siloed systems to give an accurate view of a person’s symptoms and progress. As part of My IBD Care, the CalproSmart Self-Test frees up resources and time in hospitals for clinicians, enabling them to focus on providing care, whilst supporting those living with long term inflammatory conditions to feel empowered, involved and informed."

About Ampersand Health

Ampersand Health is a social purpose company, founded by doctors and patients to improve the health and happiness of people with long term inflammatory conditions. The company is pioneering the development of behavioural and data-science based digital therapies for people with immune-mediated diseases like Crohn’s, Colitis, Arthritis and Psoriasis.

Ampersand Health is recognised in the Digital Health Global 100, and has won the HSJ Award, the NHS Ideas Lab, the NHS Hackfest and competitive grants from government and industry. The company was selected for PWC Scale Health and the NHS’s DigitalHealth. London accelerator.

Ampersand Health is also one of the 18 digital innovators selected to support vulnerable people during the COVID-19 outbreak as part of the TechForce19 challenge.

About Calpro

Calpro AS is internationally known for providing innovative solutions for home monitoring of IBD patients. Their home monitoring solutions enable people who suffer from IBD to take an active part in the treatment of their disease by performing CalproSmart™ self-tests at home and using the CalproSmart™ E-health App to scan and report the results to a predetermined healthcare professional for follow up. 

Calpro AS is our Norwegian-based biotech company dedicated to the research and development of Calprotectin-based diagnostic tests. Calpro AS was founded in 1993 by the inventors of the technology behind the ELISA kits for the determination of calprotectin in stools and other biological materials. Focusing on one specific biomarker, the company has a knowledge base unlike any other. The Oslo-based company has a strong position in Europe and USA. For more information: www.calpro.no.