Takeda announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with Vanderbilt University and Texas Digestive Disease Consultants (TDDC) on a digital program to help patients and physicians manage inflammatory bowel disease.
The pilot program, iBData, will initially include 100 patients, who will track their disease using a wearable device. The goal is to improve patient care by facilitating conversations between patients and physicians between visits and improving understanding of individual patients’ conditions, Takeda said in a statement.
"The wearable aspect of the technology being used for iBData provides an opportunity to investigate how we as physicians monitor, assess and treat our patients," said Dr. Tim Ritter, medical director of luminal research at TDDC, in the statement.
The patients will collect data on their symptoms, triggers and aggravating factors, which will then be analyzed to improve physicians’ ability to treat patients, according to the statement.
"Giving patients the power to capture robust, real-time monitoring of their symptoms will help us as physicians to create a personalized treatment plan,” said Dr. Dawn Beaulieu, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in the statement. “Our hope is that this will ultimately result in better disease control and improved IBD care."
Inflammatory bowel disease primarily includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, neither of which has a known cause nor a cure. Treatments to manage the conditions include anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs, as well as surgery.