On Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) awareness day, we are extremely proud and happy to announce our partnership with ALS Liga Belgium and welcome them into Aparito’s Patient Group Accelerator Programme!
About the Accelerator
Aparito launched the Accelerator in 2020 to provide an initiative where a company and patient community, with the support of patient advocacy groups, can collaborate as peers.
The Accelerator is designed to understand and ideally fulfil the patients’ needs, by working closely with patient organisations and finding new endpoints that would be relevant to their specific conditions.
By developing technological solutions, novel endpoints and digital biomarkers (Digital vs traditional) designed for and with the patients (Patient involvement), the objective is to collect sufficient exploratory data as a starting point for future validation and use in clinical trials.
About ALS
ALS, also known as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary movements of muscles, progressively causing muscle weakness, paralysis and eventually death, within 2-5 years of diagnosis. The cause of ALS is still unknown, and the course of the disease and life expectancy varies from patient to patient. ALS results in loss of strength in hands or limbs and then spreads to other parts of the body. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to swallow, speak and breathe.
While there is no cure for ALS yet, a few approved treatments help slow the progression and manage ALS symptoms and there are new experimental drugs in the ALS treatment pipeline. Due to its rapid progression, ALS may benefit from specific digital biomarkers that would allow more frequent remote monitoring and mitigate the high attrition rates of ALS patients involved in clinical trials.
The first stage of the Accelerator programme will be dedicated to exploring and understanding the unmet needs of ALS patients regarding digital outcomes measures through a co-creation approach in partnership with the ALS Liga Belgium.
Using Aparito’s Atom5TM we will co-develop a prototype to test the usability and potential clinical utility of such a platform to capture and analyse digital biomarkers that are relevant to ALS patients.
We are very excited to launch this new partnership with ALS Liga Belgium as part of the Accelerator Programme. This is an excellent opportunity to co-develop patient-driven solutions to support the ALS patient community
Dr Elisa Ferrer Mallol, Patient Advocacy Manager, Aparito
In our second year of the Patient Group Accelerator we are thrilled to see the programme grow from strength to strength. The Accelerator is a critical part of Aparito’s DNA and vision for a patient centric solution to conveying what’s important to them. Partnering with ALS Belgium is an exciting reflection of this and a strong addition to the partnership that we have with DuchenneUK and PCD Support UK
Dr Elin Haf Davies, CEO, Aparito
About Aparito
Aparito is a global health tech company that brings clinical trials to patients and unlocks real-world data through mobile apps, video assessments & wearable devices. Aparito provides a patient-centric platform that integrates clinical & regulatory expertise to capture patient data and develop digital endpoints for hybrid and decentralised clinical trials.
Earlier this year Aparito received the EURORDIS Company Award for Health Technology at the 2022 EURORDIS Black Pearl Awards, a great recognition from the rare disease community to acknowledge that Aparito makes a difference in the rare disease space.
Learn more about Aparito’s Patient Group Accelerator Programme here.