Treatment x Lifestyle: A Proactive Patient Approach
So you might be asking yourself, “Why the photo of a pay phone?” I can assure you that has nothing to do with today being “Throwback Thursday”. It just reminds me of a time when it was suffice to have phones dispersed randomly throughout a city. If you just needed to make a simple phone call or even had an emergency, you’d need locate the nearest said pay phone. In retrospect, this was truly a reactive experience.
From pay phones came early mobile communication devices, like pagers, two-ways, and early cell phones. As mobile devices advanced in their capabilities, pay phones quickly started becoming more and more unnecessary. And then the smartphone came out, and the necessity for pay phones was no more. With this new innovation, not only did you have a phone whenever you needed it, you also had unlimited access to information via an internet connected device. We as consumers are accustomed to the ubiquitous accessibility of this technology as reflected in the now greater than 90% of Americans who reported that they own a smartphone.
When I zoom out and look at the current landscape for life saving devices for those with food allergies, I see some parallels between the advancement of mobile communication and the aforementioned industry example. Families are forced to purchase multiple epinephrine auto-injectors (EAI): one for the house, one for the car, one for parents to have on them constantly, and one for schools. They’d rather spend the money than to forget their EAI’s and not have it when a child eats the wrong food that their severely allergic to. The economic impact of food allergies, including direct medical, out-of-pocket, lost labor productivity, and related opportunity costs, was recently reported at $25 billion.
Proactive vs Reactive
Coming from of someone who personally suffers from multiple food allergies, the current standard of care in our space is inadequate. These antiquated approaches do not give peace of mind to key stakeholders: patients, parents, providers, and even payers. With patient adherence being so low, it would be wise to take on a more proactive approach that’s built for the consumer of today. Alerje is developing medical devices that are designed to be with you at all times in an unobtrusive manner. It’s there when you need it, and not when you don’t. Our approach includes a digital health mobile app component made for those key stakeholders to make better decisions around the food that they consume to lessen the odds of having life threatening emergencies. We like to call this a 360 Treatment (device) x Lifestyle (mobile app) approach.
We’ve learned from the success of other medical device companies that have built value adding platforms via device/app combinations. We’re currently witnessing innovation leading “non traditional” MedTech companies (i.e. Apple, Alphabet, etc.) that are developing products with the consumer in mind first which we see manifested via patient oriented design.
Our core team at Alerje has a mix of backgrounds that reflect both of the above mentioned industries. We believe this gives us unique insights into building a platform that can have a similar impact as the smartphone example in redefining the consumer experience.
About Javier
Javier Evelyn is the Founder and CEO of Alerje, a Detroit based startup building a platform to improve the overall quality of life of those affected by food allergies. As someone who personally suffers from multiple food allergies, he truly believes that Alerje’s Treatment x Lifestyle approach will not only improve patient adherence but also help to revolutionize how EAIs are viewed and utilized by all key stakeholders.
