Helping Hand Data Capture wins Red Dot Design Prize 2008
Once again a Bang & Olufsen Medicom design has been internationally recognised
March 14, 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bang & Olufsen Medicom, a leading supplier of drug delivery devices for the pharmaceutical industry, announces that yet again the company has been internationally acknowledged, this time in the Red Dot design award 2008.
Helping Hand Data Capture is an innovative electronic tablet reminder device that aims at improving patient compliance, which is an important health issue, since 50% of patients on long term treatment do not take their medication as recommended*. B&O Medicom created the design and curved it like the palm of an open hand. As the name signifies, the device aims at reminding the patient to take the medication as prescribed and at encouraging him/her to stay compliant. Furthermore, the captured data becomes a platform for patient empowerment and for patient-physician dialogue.
With a total of more than 7,000 submissions from 60 countries for all categories, the Red Dot design award ranks among the largest and most distinguished design competitions in the world. Each year an international jury made up of renowned designers and design experts from all over the world reviews and evaluates the submitted products.
Best of the Best Award
Helping Hand Data Capture has obtained the exclusive title “best of the best” in the category of medical product designs, which signifies that the product is rated as the best design of all in its category. This year the group of jurors spotted Helping Hand Data Capture as a particularly innovative and functional product of high quality among the 3,302 designs in the product design category.
Paul Erik Fabricius, Senior Design Manager at B&O Medicom, welcomes the award: “Red Dot is a seal of quality and we are very happy that our design approach has been ranked among the best in design and business. Helping Hand Data Capture clearly expresses our vision to help patients become compliant to their medication regimen. The product has already been endorsed in clinical studies in different countries around Europe and we believe its value to patients, health care professionals and pharmaceutical companies to be of great importance.”
Improving Patient Compliance
Helping Hand Data Capture is a vehicle for a full compliance process that motivates doctors and patients to focus on compliance to the prescribed treatment regimen. The device is used with medication in blister packs and it reminds the patient to take the tablets at the right intervals by visual and acoustic signals. A visual indication reminds the patient about everyday compliance and gives easy to understand feedback on the compliance level via a visual traffic light signal (green signifies excellent compliance, yellow is fair and red is poor). Thereby the device encourages the patient to stay “green” and strive for optimal treatment.
Insight into the Tablet Taking Pattern
The perspective of Helping Hand Data Capture is to understand individual patient compliance and motivate the patient to take the medication correctly. A small chip inside the device registers and stocks the tablet taking behaviour of the patient. This information is easily uploaded to a pc, where it is automatically formatted into a report in MS Office Excel or xml format. On the basis of this data, a fact based discussion can be initiated between the physician and the patient. Additionally, the device is ideal for clinical studies and post marketing surveillance (PMS) studies. The device allows the company to determine the actual quality of the data generated from the clinical study.
50% of patients forget to take their medication*
In fact, the average patient forgets every second dose, so patients need a reminder and a motivation to keep on taking their full course of prescribed medication. Otherwise they may face a relapse, hospitalisation or in severe cases - death. There are many reasons why patients do not continue on a certain course of medication, it could be lack of motivation or understanding of the treatment’s importance or simply forgetfulness. A study in Italy* involving nearly 17,000 patients in anti-hypertensive treatment revealed that 65 % of patients had opted out of their treatment after one year.
A Series of Design Awards
Helping Hand, the device’s older sister, a compliance device without data capture function, has equally won several design awards, such as the iF Design Award 2005, GOOD Design 2005 and it has been nominated for INDEX 2005 and the Danish Innovation & Design award. Other B&O Medicom products, such as inhalers and electronic stethoscopes (developed for 3M® Healthcare) have equally won international design awards in the past years.
About Bang & Olufsen Medicom
B&O Medicom is a leading expert in the design, development and supply of innovative drug delivery device solutions and sensor based technologies with a focus on patient compliance. The current product range includes; inhaler platforms and services, tablet reminder and monitoring devices, and injection systems. We offer concept development, engineering and manufacturing services to clients, and options to license our intellectual property.
Contact
For more information/requests for interviews, please contact:
Peter W. Ravn, Vice President of Compliance Solutions, Bang & Olufsen Medicom: +45 61 200 504 (mobile) or pwr@medicomnordic.com
or
Paul Erik Fabricius, Senior Design Manager, Bang & Olufsen Medicom +45 42 12 57 26 (mobile) or pfa@medicomnordic.com
For general information on B&O Medicom’s competences within compliance solutions and other product areas, click here. Learn more about compliance here.
* WHO Report (2003), “Adherence to Long-Term Therapies, Evidence for Action”
* Delgi, EL et al, Clin Ther, 2002