White Paper
Worldwide, more than 2.8 million people are living with a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis, including more than 1 million people in the United States. Treatment options and patient outcomes have improved dramatically since the first disease-modifying treatment (DMT) arrived on the market in 1993. In fact, the health of people with MS has improved by 66%, as measured in quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) metrics.1
Yet even with more than 20 DMTs on the market today,2 26% to 40% of MS patients still receive suboptimal treatments, according to estimates. And the challenges patients face aren’t only limited to accessing the best treatments. Rather, there are a wide range of hurdles that must be overcome by both patients and their care providers to improve the path to therapy and ease the patient journey.
In this white paper, we’ll explore some of the core challenges faced by patients and care providers dealing with this life-changing condition, then share the positive impact that digital health solutions can have.
1 Van Hecke W, Costers L, Descamps A, Ribbens A, Nagels G, Smeets D, Sima DM. A Novel Digital Care Management Platform to Monitor Clinical and Subclinical Disease Activity in Multiple Sclerosis. Brain Sciences. September 3, 2021.
2 Van Hecke W, Costers L, Descamps A, Ribbens A, Nagels G, Smeets D, Sima DM. A Novel Digital Care Management Platform to Monitor Clinical and Subclinical Disease Activity in Multiple Sclerosis. Brain Sciences. September 3, 2021.
Multiple sclerosis is a complex and ever-changing condition, with a variety of symptoms that affect patients both physically and cognitively. Complicating treatment even further, there are multiple subtypes of MS. Most people living with MS have relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), which is defined by temporary periods of flare-ups, followed by stints of partial or complete recovery. Others have primary-progressing MS (PPMS), where symptoms slowly worsen, without periods of remission. Still, others have different combinations of symptoms, which evolve over time.
The combination of physical and cognitive symptoms, the disease’s inevitable evolution over time and the wide range of treatment options make for a complicated treatment landscape. The core challenges that deserve exploration and analysis are:
3 Haase R, Voigt I, Scholz M, Schlieter H, Benedict M, Susky M, Dillenseger A, Ziemssen T. Profiles of eHealth Adoption in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis and Their Caregivers. Brain Sciences. August 19, 2021
4 Giunti G, Kool J, Rivera Romero O, Dorronzoro Zubiete E. Exploring the Specific Needs of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis for mHealth Solutions for Physical Activity: Mixed-Methods Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth. February 9, 2018.
5 Giunti G, Kool J, Rivera Romero O, Dorronzoro Zubiete E. Exploring the Specific Needs of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis for mHealth Solutions for Physical Activity: Mixed-Methods Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth. February 9, 2018.
6 National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Depression and Multiple Sclerosis. Accessed April 2023.
7 National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Affordability of and Access to MS Medications. Accessed April 2023.
Regulated digital solutions are poised to provide myriad benefits for patients, providers and pharma companies in the multiple sclerosis space.
Patient apps
A recent survey published in Brain Science showed that 95.6% of people with MS were interested in using an MS app.8 People with MS are often considered ideal early adopters of digital health care, due to the relatively young age at diagnosis, which is often between the ages of 20 and 50.
A comprehensive patient app puts a wealth of information right on patients’ smartphones, with features including:
Remote monitoring
Remote monitoring capabilities can augment electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePROs), assisting in patients reporting back to their providers on important symptoms that affect quality of life like fatigue, hand function, walking ability, cognition and more, offering real-time feedback when it counts.
Seamless patient-provider communication
MS symptoms can change overnight, which is why it’s crucial to maintain open lines of communication among patients, caregivers and providers. Digital solutions allow for the secure transfer of messages, anytime and anywhere.
Caregiver portals
For caregivers with primary responsibility for patients, a regulated caregiver portal is an invaluable tool for accessing patient data, communicating with providers and tracking symptoms and appointments. It’s an especially important tool as the disease progresses over time.
Community support
Because MS is a lifelong and ever-changing condition, patients and their caregivers can benefit from opportunities to connect with each other, have dialogue about living with MS and share resources. A digital app can facilitate these engagements, helping patients build a community of support that plays an important role in maintaining mental health.
More informed treatment and disease management
Data-driven clinical decision-making tools can help clinicians make better care and treatment decisions, pairing patients with the right treatment, earlier. With access to individual patient ePROs, remote monitoring data points and population-level data, providers are empowered to make more informed care decisions, including gaining understanding of signs of an impending flare-up.
Seamless EHR integration
Disparate data systems need not impede quality care of patients with MS. All patient- and provider-reported data can instantly be incorporated into each patient’s electronic health record, ensuring every member of the care team has access to the latest patient data.
Real-world data capture for reimbursement
Given the expense of brand-name MS drugs, pharma companies must ease the path to reimbursement for patients. Analytics dashboards capture the real-world data that pharma companies can use to both increase patient adoption and demonstrate therapy value.
In order to solve these disease management challenges and take advantage of the wide range of opportunities, it’s important to take a strategic approach. Here are some of the benefits our Disease Management Solution can deliver:
Applications that are configurable to meet your unique needs are core to both accelerating speed to market and expanding your product portfolio over time. The BrightInsight Disease Management Solution can support:
It’s also important to build on a platform that’s compliant with even the most highly regulated digital health SaMD classifications. This allows life sciences companies to maintain compliance across geographies and over time, even as the product scales and evolves.
HEALTHCARE PROVIDER INTERFACES
Many complex conditions like MS lack pre-built workflows within EHR. HCPs have to create their own custom flows, creating a risk of ineffective data management. Our Healthcare Provider Interfaces enable clinicians to see trend data directly within their EHR workflow to track how patients are responding to therapy and where any changes to the care plan may be needed.
CLINICAL ASSESSMENTS
The Patient App connects patients to tools like clinical assessments, such as the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), to track disease activity level and severity.
This is great—when thinking of features, you have to think of the benefits. And in pharma, you don’t have just one audience, you have the patient, the healthcare provider and pharma. Each has their own needs, and what you've outlined in these features addresses the needs of all three of those groups."
– Associate Head of Medicine, Head of Global Scientific Affairs, top 10 biopharma company
A patient app with tools that support patients throughout their disease management journey is a key differentiator. A great patient app solution helps patients and their caregivers recognize the impact of their actions through features like:
DAILY SYMPTOM LOGS
Patients and caregivers can track the frequency of symptoms they are experiencing with tools like daily symptom logs, and quality of life surveys help track the impact on daily living.
MEDICATION AND APPOINTMENT REMINDERS
The BrightInsight Disease Management Solution imports a patient's MS prescriptions directly from the EHR into their Patient App and medication reminders can be configured to support therapy conversion and adherence.
The most powerful digital health solutions allow for the secure, compliant capture and use of patient- and population-level data. On an individual level, analytics dashboards with usage and usability metrics, combined with algorithm hosting, aid clinical decision-making, increasing patient adoption and engagement. On a broader level, data powers reimbursement management tools, demonstrating therapy value to payers and increasing therapy access.
ANALYTICS DASHBOARDS
Commercial and brand leaders leverage our Analytics Dashboards to harness unique data to drive product strategy and marketing tactics.
Go with the proven partner that top biopharma companies trust. When you team up with BrightInsight, you can accelerate time to market while future-proofing your disease management solutions for regulatory, security and privacy compliance.
By building their disease management solutions on top of the BrightInsight® Platform, top biopharma companies can address patient and provider pain points and unlock a better path to adherence and persistence across a wide range of therapy areas and treatments.