Centaurs, Not Snake Oil

TheTechtour Healthtech Summit hosted by the International Venture Club in Lausanne is a dating event for European seed, start-up and growth companies looking for investment and for Venture capital and some Pharma/Medtech companies looking to invest. Doug Haggstrom went along to take the pulse of European digital health companies. These companies aren ’t specifically focused on Pharma as partners but it is worth paying attention to how digital health products and services are developing. Pharma developed tools and services will, after all, be compared to these companies in the marketplace and the discipline of proving standalone value has some lessons for Pharma’s own digital initiatives.Digital health ’s most recent detractor was the CEO of the American Medical Association who branded digital health the snake oil of the 21st Century.   He complained about advancements without an evidence base and tools that impede care, confuse patients or waste time. He specifically targeted ineffective electronic health records (EHRs), direct to consumer products and apps of mixed quality.Healthtech Summit participants showed a more positive approach that could see them answer these criticisms with an increasing focus on a clinical evidence base and in some cases both regulatory approval and reimbursement. What emerged was what we call the Centaur approach, named after the half human, half horse creature of Greek mythology. In digital terms, a Centaur is the combination of computer p...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news