Daman has signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica to deliver a digital health tool (mobile application) to be used in a clinical study among people living with psoriatic arthritis. Benefitting from the HealthBuddy platform, the agreement involves developing a digital health tool for use in a clinical trial, enabling Janssen to gain new insights into how patients’ everyday lives are affected by their disease.

Affecting more than 5M patients in Europe and 37.5M worldwide, Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) imposes a high burden on individuals, societies, and the healthcare sector. The collection and utilisation of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) are expected to enable the transition toward more holistic care, aiming to achieve a higher quality of life for patients.

With the HealthBuddy platform—using the validated concept of the RheumaBuddy app (already used by 20,000+ Rheumatoid Arthritis patients in Europe)—Janssen will be able to not only provide patients with a valuable tool but also obtain longitudinal data-driven insights on the everyday lives of patients enrolled in their clinical trial.

“We are excited to work with a forward-looking pharmaceutical company like Janssen on implementing an innovative digital health technology in their clinical trials. This really shows the meaning of their vision of being patient-centric,” says Andreas Dam, CEO at Daman. He continues: “Studies have shown that PROs deliver better ecological validity when filled by patients outside the clinic. Here, digital health tools are the obvious choice”.

“Despite advances in treatment, there remain several unmet needs among people living with psoriatic arthritis. We are happy to see many companies in the pharmaceutical industry and digital health partner up to co-create powerful solutions,” says Jan Koren, President at EUROPSO, the federation of psoriasis patients’ associations in Europe, who has taken part in the co-creation process.