Tilak Healthcare Launches U.S. Pilot for Medical Vision Monitoring App

Tilak Healthcare, a digital therapeutics pioneer specializing in the development of mobile medical application games used as monitoring and rehabilitation tools for chronic diseases, is launching a pilot program in the United States with Novartis for OdySight, Tilak Healthcare’s first clinically tested mobile app for patient remote vision monitoring.
 
The program is the first to launch under an international collaboration announced in 2020 between Tilak Healthcare and Novartis to promote OdySight in the United States and Europe following a successful collaboration in France.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Novartis to expand OdySight across the US in this pilot program. Together, we can make OdySight accessible to more patients and help provide more timely care,” Tilak CEO Edouard Gasser said. “Telemedicine and gamification will play a huge part in tomorrow’s healthcare and we look forward to playing a key role in changing the healthcare system, one game at a time.”
 
The OdySight smartphone app is especially suited to monitor patients with chronic eye diseases associated with aging, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy. The offering applies gamification to clinically tested Visual Acuity and Amsler Grid tests and provides patients with in-app puzzles that are unlocked with each completed test, which have been shown to help keep patients engaged and adherent to their vision monitoring schedules in between office visits.^1,2
 
When changes in visual acuity are detected by OdySight, patients are prompted to contact their physician. Additionally, physicians have access to an easy-to-use online portal through which they receive notifications of patient test results, potentially allowing them to detect disease progression at an earlier stage.1 Physicians are also invited to monitor results and patient activity on a regular basis through the portal that provides protected and access-restricted patient details.
 
Joshua Mali, M.D., a board-certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon with The Eye Associates, and founder and CEO, Mali Enterprises, said: “There is no question the medical community, and specifically the eye care community, has faced the growing importance of remote patient care. New digital solutions are more critical now than ever to help physicians and patients communicate. I welcome the introduction of innovative tools, such as OdySight, that can help achieve our goal of providing exemplary patient care and encourage patient adherence between appointments.”

Through regular virtual communication, OdySight is intended to help physicians remotely monitor their patients with chronic ocular diseases, with the potential to complement the standard experience for both patients and physicians and assist in follow-up planning.¹
 
Novartis will educate physicians across the United States participating in the pilot program about the app and its uses, making it available in a range of regions during the pilot program. 
 
Developed by medical experts and seasoned gaming professionals, OdySight is a concrete example of digital solutions that may help improve patient care. The app includes visual acuity and Amsler grid tests that compare to the current gold standard methods. A secure dashboard gives medical personnel access to the patients’ test results in real time, allowing them to monitor relevant visual parameters between consultations. By combining the power of gaming with easy testing, patients return to take the tests. Doctors in turn can better remotely monitor their patients and provide more timely care.
 
Tilak Healthcare is a unique videogame studio where like-minded and passionate people create fun mobile medical games for patients with chronic diseases. There is an ever-increasing demand for medical services, placing a huge burden on the healthcare system; doctors and caregivers need new, validated tools and resources to improve access. 
 
References
¹ Brucker J, Bhatia V, Sahel JA, Girmens JF, Mohand-Saïd S. OdySight: a mobile medical application designed for remote monitoring-a prospective study comparison with standard clinical eye tests. Ophthalmol Ther. 2019;8(3):461-476.
² Data on file. OdySight data report. October 2019.