MSD partners with Onqo Health to develop a digital health application for lung cancer patients
26.07.2022 11:36
Onqo Health GmbH is launching the new patient app onqo in cooperation with MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH. As a CE-certified medical product, the app is intended to improve the specific care needs of patients with lung cancer. The onqo app can actively support those affected in understanding and participating in their treatment.
According to the company, the onqo app is intended to enable patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) - the most common form of lung cancer - to actively participate in decision-making processes and thus support the success of treatment. The app provides patients and their relatives with comprehensive information about their illness and provides a better understanding of their own situation - so that they can help shape their treatment and have discussions with the doctor in a more informed and focused manner.
Every year around 57,000 people in Germany develop lung cancer (bronchial carcinoma or lung carcinoma). At the same time, new forms of therapy can open up a wider range of options for individual treatment.
“We are currently experiencing a rapid change in the therapeutic landscape in oncology, which can give patients hope and perspectives. However, this potential is not always fully exploited. Given the complex diagnostic and therapeutic options, onqo can help doctors and patients to choose the best individual and guideline-based therapy,” says Dr. Ahmed Khalifa, Medical Director MSD in Germany.
The onqo app uses an interactive query to analyze whether the treatment complies with current scientific findings and guidelines. If the app recognizes that there could be ways to improve the treatment, it creates an individual and understandable text for the next doctor's consultation. This can simplify targeted communication between doctors and patients in the often short consultation time - essential points and open questions are not forgotten. Changes or alternatives to treatment can be discussed during the conversation. Onqo Health wants to submit an application for inclusion in the DiGA directory as a digital health application as soon as possible. In order to have the onqo app entered in the DiGA directory, Onqo Health is currently carrying out the necessary studies for systematic data analysis with other clinical and research partners and with the support of the Kmappschaft.
“We support the review of the desired positive effects of the onqo app for oncology patients in order to improve the disease-specific health literacy and guideline-compliant first-line care of our insured persons. Digital applications such as patient apps open up completely new ways of providing individual information and doctor-patient communication,” says Bettina am Orde, chairwoman of the Knappschaft’s management board.
Onqo Health and MSD: Cooperation to provide better care for cancer patients
As a partner of the National Decade Against Cancer, MSD supports various initiatives for prevention and the development of innovative therapies. MSD and Onqo Health are collaborating on the further development of digital applications in oncology.
“The quality of oncological care is essentially determined by the optimal communication of treatment-relevant information to patients. Many people find the announcement of a cancer diagnosis traumatic and it makes it difficult for many people to listen. In addition, the medical terms used are often not easy to understand for laypeople, meaning that relevant information cannot be captured. “It follows that only a small portion of the complex information that is supposed to be conveyed in the doctor’s consultation can actually be absorbed and understood by the patient,” says PD Dr. Thomas Elter, oncologist & founder of Onqo Health.
dr Jutta Wendel-Schrief, Director Market Access, MSD Germany: “The common interest of Onqo Health and MSD lies in the goal of achieving better care for cancer patients by making knowledge available quickly and easily at the crucial moment. The needs of the patients are always the focus. At the same time, the healthcare system can benefit if the efficiency of therapy and the quality of care can be increased through digital solutions.”
With the EasyOncology app, Onqo Health has already established a certified medical product in order to be able to quickly, intuitively and clearly understand the complex diagnostic and therapeutic standards of today's oncology. The EasyOncology app, aimed at oncology practitioners, has been one of the leading digital applications in the field of cancer medicine for nine years. Developed by doctors at the University Hospital of Cologne, the app is now supported by a Germany-wide network of specialists and patient representatives. EasyOncology provides a possible recommendation for individual therapy with just a few clicks and was awarded the Breakthrough Innovation Award of the MSD Health Prize 2019.
Oncology at MSD
MSD invests in research and development of innovative diagnostic procedures and therapeutic treatment options that help detect new types of cancer early and treat them more successfully. As a leading company in the field of immuno-oncology, MSD offers patients with certain tumor diseases new perspectives.