Health-tech ideas from S’pore win Grants4Apps challenge

SINGAPORE — A customised wearable that sends an alarm to remind glaucoma patients to apply eye drops and track their usage is among the winning ideas from a contest for innovative health-tech solutions, to support older patients with chronic diseases.

Another idea that won is an application that monitors diabetes patients’ food habits and health readings.

Both winning ideas were from Singapore teams, followed by one from Thailand. They were chosen from among 80 submissions to a challenge from Grants4Apps Singapore — a web-based crowd-sourcing initiative that is part of pharmaceutical company Bayer’s global Grants4Apps programme, which supports health-tech ideas that seek to improve health outcomes or pharmaceutical processes.

Grants4Apps Singapore is a collaboration between Bayer and NUS Enterprise (the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore), to carry out similar work here and across the Asia-Pacific region, in particular, to overcome obstacles that older people with chronic diseases face in following instructions to take medication regularly.

The challenge to source for health-tech ideas related to this was launched last December, and it attracted participants from countries such as Australia, India, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.

The winning Singapore entry, EyeDEA, is a two-in-one card and wearable that reminds older glaucoma patients to apply eye drops. It is a personalised wallet-sized medication card that helps the patient recall medication regimes, while a customised wearable device with an alarm helps to send reminders and track their usage of eye drops.

In a press release yesterday, Bayer said this device targets older glaucoma patients in Singapore who typically do not own smartphones and have poor vision, which limits them from effectively using mobile appli-cations that have small font sizes.

The second winning entry, also from Singapore, is Glycoleap by Holmusk. It is an app that monitors diabetes patients’ food habits, glucose readings, activity levels, weight and medicine adherence on a daily basis. By monitoring the glucose level of patients daily, dietitians are able to ascertain if a patient has forgotten to take his or her medication.

PillPocket, Thailand’s winning entry, is an integrated solution that provides personal healthcare assistance from pharmacists for patients with high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and diabetes.

Mr Kemal Malik, member of the board of management responsible for innovation at Bayer, said: “We are impressed by the wealth of ideas and the high quality of our finalists from this regional chapter of our programme, which focuses on finding solutions to improve medication adherence in our rapidly aging population.

“Some of these concepts have the potential to benefit patients, doctors and consumers, revolutionlising healthcare delivery and improving treatment results. We are delighted to support the winners in advancing their innovative ideas.”

A panel of judges from Bayer, NUS Enterprise and the industry evaluated the applications based on originality and practicality, and that the teams should be able to develop their proposed concepts into viable products in about six months.

Each winning team will receive an award of S$10,000 and access to mentorships and a global and regional network from Bayer, NUS and other industry partners to refine and scale their project.

The teams will also be eligible for incubator support from NUS Enterprise. They may also be admitted to the global Grants4Apps programme, and stand a chance to receive more financial support, mentorships by Bayer managers and an international network of external entrepreneurs, as well as co-working space at the global headquarters of Bayer Pharmaceuticals division in Berlin, Germany.