New generations of smart devices

Connected health will be one of the topics discussed during the upcoming
Connect in Pharma conferences. As experts in this sector, Eric Dessertenne, CEO
of Biocorp, and Emre Ozcan, Global Head of Digital Health at Merck, will deliver
talks on the challenges that lie ahead in the development of connected devices.

In today’s interview, Eric Dessertenne tells us a little more about the pathologies and
treatments where smart devices would allow a better therapeutic monitoring.

Q Which therapeutic areas are most in need of smart devices today to ensure better
therapeutic monitoring?

A All chronic diseases could benefit from smart devices to monitor the patient treatment
and adherence. This is the case for example in diabetes, where Biocorp is the most active today, growth disorders and fertility, just to name a few areas.

Q Biocorp has signed some partnerships for the development of specific versions of
Mallya, a smart device for pen-injectors. What types of treatments are involved?

A Several specific versions of Mallya are being developed to be compatible with injection pens to treat three main therapeutic areas.
Let’s first talk about Mallya for FlexTouch®, designed for the insulin injection pen of Novo Nordisk, launched on the Japanese market earlier this year for patients living with diabetes.
This one-piece device is the new generation of our Mallya first generation device designed for Solostar®, Flexpen® and Kwikpen®. Missing doses or not taking enough insulin can cause a range of health problems over time, that’s why compliance with treatment is critical to patients and Mallya help them in this way.
Biocorp has also developed a one-piece device compatible with Sanofi’s pens Solostar, named Solosmart, being launched in Asian and European countries first.
The team is also working on new versions of Mallya for injection pens used for fertility and growth hormone therapies, two health areas placing a premium on treatment compliance
and monitoring.

Q What are the motivations of Biocorp and its partners for entering into
these partnerships?

A Biocorp and its partners all focus on improving patients’ daily lives. Convinced
that the connected devices would help making the patient lives easier, we
combined our strengths to design a smart cap for patients with a chronic disease
that are already treated by existing medicinal products.

Q Do these new applications require evolutions of the
Mallya device?

A New Mallya gens are 1-piece devices (to be attached to the dose selection button of an injector pen) and are a great innovation from our first Mallya version which has 2 pieces (one part clipped on the pen body and one part fixed on the dose button). These new generation devices are more patient-friendly, easier to use and keep a high dose accuracy.