This year’s healthcare challenges are presented by Takeda, Boehringer Ingelheim RCV, Sintetica and Novartis. Stay tuned for additional challenges coming soon. Will you take up one of the challenges below?

People living with rare diseases are often faced with challenges to obtain correct diagnosis, and hence treatment.

Takeda calls for digital health solutions that could improve or optimise the care and referral pathway for people with rare diseases giving them access to relevant laboratory testing to enable diagnosis and treatment decision. There is a particular interest for solutions that could be applied to improve testing for Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), an ultra-rare, life-threatening blood disorder.

The global prevalence of Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) is around 9% and is often underrecognised by patients and clinicians. Diagnosis, staging and appropriate referral of CKD patients by primary care physicians are important elements in reducing the burden of the disease.

Boehringer Ingelheim RCV is looking for a digital diagnostic support tool that aids the diagnosis of new CKD patients; flags the unrecognised CKD patients – especially those with high risk for progression; and could be integrated with the daily workflow of general practitioners.

Sintetica is looking for disruptive and innovative solutions in pain management, related to chronic pain but also to pain treatment in general, that could improve patients’ lives.

These solutions could include but are not limited to: new types of pharmacological treatment, novel drug delivery routes, medical devices, digital approaches.There is a particular interest in the field of neuromodulation which is an expanding area of pain medicine that incorporates an array of non-invasive, minimally invasive, and surgical electrical therapies, as well as solutions that are based on a multidisciplinary approach, solutions that aim at an individualised treatment and solutions that could offer a multidimensional diagnosis.

Novartis is looking for a proven solution or platform that can support an integrated care pathway to optimise the quality of life, reduce the disease’s burden and minimise avoidable healthcare resources utilisation for patients with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease and elevated LDL-c levels.

The solutions or platforms can go from screening and diagnosis, patient identification, automate referral, treatment activation and follow-up. Digital health interventions that have an impact in behaviour change and/or psychosocial aid optimising patient’s quality outcome are also welcome to apply to the challenge.

For more detailed information on each of the challenges in this year’s Start-ups Meet Pharma programme, please read the 2022 challenges document here.

To qualify, your company must:

• Be an established legal entity and based in any Horizon Europe country
• Have a validated proof of concept, market validation and prototype that addresses one of the challenges released by the pharmaceutical companies listed above.
• Be available throughout the whole duration of the programme: May-September 2022

If you have questions about Start-ups Meet Pharma, we can help. Reach out to a member of our team in your region who can guide you in your entrepreneurship journey at EIT Health.

You can also watch our informational webinar to hear from programme organisers and alumni.

Applying is easy and the programme is free of cost. All you need to do is submit an application through our portal by the deadline: 17 March 2022. Will you take up the challenge?