BALTIMORE, MD. (December 6, 2016)
In a national study with eight leading academic medical centers, emocha will provide directly observed therapy (DOT) through its flagship product, miDOT, for hepatitis C (HCV) medication adherence among injection drug users. The study is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
DOT — a practice where healthcare workers observe each dose of a patient’s medication — is the worldwide standard of care for tuberculosis (TB) and methadone treatment. Until now, DOT has been the most effective way to secure adherence to TB medication. Video-based DOT, offered through miDOT, serves as a proxy. “miDOT offers a convenient system for supporting and monitoring HCV patients through asynchronous video DOT, which reduces the need for in-person appointments. We are excited that a world class research team will study the effectiveness of miDOT to secure adherence to HCV medications for people who inject drugs”,” says emocha CEO, Sebastian Seiguer.
HCV is a growing epidemic that causes nearly 20,000 deaths per year in the United States, surpassing the total deaths from 60 infectious diseases combined, including TB and HIV. Injection drug users are disproportionately affected by HCV, yet are often denied access to revolutionary, new therapies due to concerns about adherence, the cost of medication, and the associated burden of monitoring. With acute cases rising annually, improving treatment options and ensuring medication adherence are becoming top priorities that miDOT is working to address. Few HCV providers have the capacity to support their patients with traditional DOT. In one arm of this study, eight community health center sites will use miDOT to compare DOT to standard patient navigation in HCV populations that inject drugs. Led by Montefiore Medical Center, the study will be conducted in conjunction with John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Harvard Medical School, West Virginia University Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
emocha has been at the forefront of digital monitoring with miDOT, which is currently used for TB treatment in eleven sites in the United States and Australia. This includes a study of four sites in Maryland funded by the NIH and led by Johns Hopkins. Seiguer added, “We are excited to be working with the leading scientists and clinicians in the country to help them better support patients with TB, HCV, HIV, and opioid addiction disorders.”
About emocha Mobile Health
emocha empowers every patient to take every dose of medication through video technology and scalable human engagement. Patients use a smartphone application to video record themselves taking their medication. Providers or emocha Adherence Coaches use a secure web portal to assess adherence and engage with patients. The platform is being used by public health departments, clinical trials, hospitals, health centers, and managed care organizations to radically improve medication adherence for patients with tuberculosis, opioid use disorder, hepatitis C, diabetes, and other chronic and infectious diseases. Learn more at www.emocha.com.
National Institutes of Health Statement
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R43MD010521. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Contact: Michelle Mendes| email: mmendes@emocha.com | phone: 410.928.4016
