G4ADigital Health Partnerships program
Bayer announced today that they have signed collaboration agreements with 11 digital health startup companies. As part of this G4ADigital Health Partnerships program, Bayer will support these 11 startups aiming for a longer-term collaboration to drive forward the development of specific digital solutions to improve patients’ health in the fields of oncology, cardiovascular diseases, ophthalmology, radiology, pulmonology, as well as the digital therapeutics. The participating 11 healthcare startups were selected by Bayer from over 750 applications out of 65 countries. The selection was based on the strategic fit, development stage of the project, & also the assessments of internal experts.
Eugene Borukhovich, the Head of Digital Health at Bayer, said that they received a high number of very mature digital health startup applications & are excited to jointly develop and to scale new digital solutions that will actually help benefit the health of patients & consumers. Dr. Zsuzsanna Varga, who is heading the Bayer’s G4A Digital Health Partnerships program said this program paves the road for long term collaborations through which both the parties can bring to market new solutions at the intersection of health & technology.
This program offers 2 different ways of collaboration with
Bayer. Under the terms of Growth Track, selected 11 early-stage startups to receive EUR 75.000 funding for co-creating products and solutions, as well as co-working space at Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals division headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Mentoring & coaching by Bayer executives is also part of the G4A Digital Health Partnerships program. And under the terms of the Advance Track, startups looking to co-create & execute commercial deals are supported. An initial project funding is followed by the incremental milestone-based payments.The Selected Advanced Track partners are:
• Prevencio Med (United States): Blood-based tests and algorithms to predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases & events.
• Blackford Analysis (United Kingdom): A platform of regulatory-approved medical image analysis apps and AI algorithms for clinical value add.
• NeuroTracker (Canada): They have a Cognitive training program designed to improve cognitive & mental performances.
• Carepay (Kenya): Carepay has a mobile health payment online-platform that helps to send, save, and spend funds for healthcare.
• RelianceHMO (Nigeria): A health-insurance company using the software, data science, and telemedicine to make health insurance affordable and easier to access.
Selected Growth Track partners are:
• OKKO Health (United Kingdom): OKKO Health has actually developed a personalized smartphone software for accurate remote monitoring of the visual health outside of ophthalmology clinics.
• Wellthy Therapeutics (India): Wellthy Therapeutics has a clinically validated behavioral intervention platform to help people change their behaviors & reduce their risk of chronic disease.
• Litesprite (USA): Litesprite creates games that combine the medical treatment & engagement of mobile gaming to help the patients proactively manage chronic health conditions such as stress, anxiety,& depression.
• Visotec (Germany): At-home hand-held optical coherence tomography (OCT) for monitoring.
• BioLum Sciences (US): They are the developer of the BioSense AMD – a point-of-care, low-cost device that works with a proprietary biomarker technology for analyzing the airway inflammation.
• Upside Health: Upside Health has developed Ouchie, an application for chronic pain management through tools such as cognitive behavioral therapy, community support, pain tracking, education resources and integration with clinicians.
About G4A program
Bayer is combining its Group’s digital health initiatives under the name G4A program. In addition to identifying the new technologies, business models, & market trends, these initiatives also involve collaborating with startups. Since its launch in the year 2013, Bayer has supported over 150 digital health companies which have resulted in more than 30 direct collaborations with digital health companies. Bayer now operates G4A in more than 13 countries worldwide, developing & promoting collaborative health care projects around the world.
