People living in remote areas are less likely to get medical treatment timely. They have physical limitations to reach out to doctors every time. Especially, people suffering from chronic diseases need more healthcare attention. Here comes remote patient monitoring (RPM) in the picture. RPM allows patients to take the necessary treatment as per their need. It provides a way to keep track of patients outside of the clinic.
Technological advancement has triggered the process of digitalisation. This digitalisation is widely spreading in every sector. It is driving the wagons in the healthcare space too. The COVID-19 pandemic was a decisive situation where the whole world swiftly adopted remote working. Resultantly, many people came forward to serve the patients and to provide them with essentials regarding their treatment.
Dr Elin Haf Davies is one of the leading names on that list. Dr Davies is the CEO of Aparito – a tech company which provides remote patient monitoring services by means of wearable devices to monitor rare diseases.
In an interview with Insights Care, Elin shares her journey in the healthcare sector, her company Aparito, and the key aspects of the global biotechnology space. Below are the highlights of the interview:
Dr Davies, please give us a brief overview of your journey as the CEO of Aparito.
Aparito might only be seven years old, but the background is 22+ years based on my clinical experience at Great Ormond St Children’s Hospital, my academic experience at University College London, and regulatory experience at the European Medicine Agency – all pivotal chapters of my career that contributes significantly to the creation of Aparito.
Tell us more about Aparito, its vision, and the key aspects of its stronghold in the global Biotechnology space.
The vision for Aparito is to completely change the experience of clinical trials for patients and their families. Patient centricity has been a bit of a tokenistic gesture, but now we do finally see the opportunity that we can take clinical trials to patients with high unmet needs rather than bring the patient to the clinical trials.
From a business leadership perspective, what is your opinion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Biotechnology industry?
From our side, supporting remote patient monitoring and decentralised clinical trials has opened doors of opportunity which were previously shut, specifically turning what we do from being a nicety into a necessity.
What efforts did you take during the pandemic to sustain operations and ensure the safety of your team at the same time?
Being a tech company, we were ideally set up for working remotely, and the team has been immense, not just in adjusting to working remotely but accelerating through it.
What is your opinion on the necessity for biotech companies to align their offerings with technologies like AI and ML, especially when catering to the ever-evolving healthcare needs?
Our approach is very much to develop digital biomarkers via video-based assessments and wearables for monitoring and prognostic purposes. ML and AI will be key enablers to that, but I loathe the hype surrounding AI in healthcare which is yet to live up to expectations and assure us that it won’t lead to harm for many if left unregulated and without an ethical framework of the application.
As an established industry leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare services industry?
Find your north star and stay true to it. Being a founder is an extremely lonely and exhausting place, so you need to have a strong vision to keep you going through the tough times.
How do you envision further strengthening Aparito’s stronghold in 2022?
We want to expand the impact and the value that we bring to patients by delivering high-quality technology and solutions.
