Welcome to StartUp Health NOW. Excited to be here with Josh Stein, the CEO and co-founder
of AdhereTech and Health Transformer extraordinaire. Great to be with you. How are you? Unity,
Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here. Thanks. So, I thought we'd start by
hearing what's going on in the world of AdhereTech. Start with your mission, what you're doing,
and why you're building AdhereTech? Absolutely. So, at AdhereTech, and as you know, viewers
may not, we make smart pill bottles that track and improve medication adherence. So, even
though we produce this really robust, beautiful piece of hardware, we still kind of consider
ourselves as much more of a services company. And what I mean by that is we partner with
pharma companies. Pharma companies sponsored programs whereby patients get their medication
in our bottle for free and when they use this bottle there's a bunch of services that AdhereTech's
system provides to patients, basically to help them take their medications as prescribed.
And, basically, all of our patients are taking specialty medications. Cancer, HIV, hepatitis
C drugs. Stuff like that. So it's incredibly important for them to take their meds as scheduled,
and yeah, we provide services to them all driven by this bottle right here. So talk
a little bit about the impact for patients and, really, what your mission is. So right
now we know that adherence or compliance to people just taking their medications is really
one of the big challenges. Also a reason why people either don't get better or get sick.
What's the impact here for for people? Yeah, absolutely. So medication non-adherence, which
is the technical term, people not taking their meds, is one of the biggest problems in healthcare
today. It basically, it attributes to about 300 billion dollars in increased healthcare
costs in the US alone every year. So it's absolutely massive. And our mission at AdhereTech
is to create devices that are very seamless for patients to use. So something that fits
right into their routine. They use it just like a normal device. It even looks like a
regular pill bottle. Exactly. So we needed to make something that our average user, 70
years old, we needed to make something that not only works right out of the box and works
seamlessly, but also doesn't look intimidating. So we have it look just like a normal bottle.
Our mission is to give patients tools for free to help them take their meds. This is
the same bottle that thousands and thousands of patients across the globe currently use,
but we put special software on this guy just so we can show it off when we go to meetings
and such. But every time the bottle is opened or closed it flashes a white light just to
let the patient know, hey, this thing's alive and it's working. Now you'll see it's going
to cycle through some of the alerts that we offer. So basically, when it's time for a
patient to take a dose the bottle pulses a light blue color. And then as that dosage
time approaches the bottle will chime. You'll hear that in a few moments. And then after
that we do text messages and phone calls. Our whole design philosophy is have the lightest
touch intervention. Help the patient to take their med. What I think is really interesting
is the data is important to the individual patient, but it sounds like there's a lot
you can learn to help patients and even providers by looking at the population or looking at
a group of patients. Is that also part of the plan? Oh yeah, absolutely. So, you know,
okay. We're a hardware company. We produce hardware. But we really consider ourselves
a data and services company. So what I mean by that on the highest level, is not all types
of non-adherence are the same You know, we see some patients that will have trouble restarting
their medication regimen after a refill. We'll see others that are, you know, consistently
okay. They might take, you know, 13 out of every 14 doses. And then we'll see others
that are doing really well and then drop off a cliff in terms of adherence. So not all
these patients really do benefit from the same exact intervention. So what our system
is starting to do is we're able to parse out what types of non-adherence we see and deliver
the right type of intervention to the right patient based on, you know, the patterns that
they're showing. Who's your customer? Is it lots of different types of health and healthcare
companies, or are you focusing on a particular type of customer at this point? So our customer
in the traditional sense, the entity that like pays for our solution, is the pharma
company. The pharma company sponsors the programs. But we also consider our pharmacy partners
our customers as well. They don't pay for the solution. It's a cost-free solution for
them that just benefits them and their patients. But we consider them just as much a customer.
So really, pharma companies and pharmacies. That said, this device, it's really robust
and it really fits into the value chain anywhere a pill bottle fits in. So we've been fortunate
enough to get inquiries and actually build customer relationships with lots of different
companies across healthcare. Whether it's children's hospitals. And we work with, you
know, St. Jude and many, many others. Whether it's cancer centers like the Dana-Farber Cancer
Center, many others there too. Even the US government. We work with the VA, the NIH.
So, really, lots of different entities work with us. What's new with the business? You've
been getting extraordinary traction. I know you have a lot of exciting developments. We're
currently going nationwide in a program that's sponsored by one of the largest drug companies
on the planet. So, they are offering AdhereTech smart pill bottles and the associated services
to their patients that take their leading cancer drugs all across the US. So, we're
working with the largest specialty pharmacies. You know, household names that you see on
every corner to have AdhereTech bottles on their shelves and getting them into the hands
of cancer patients. Free for patients. Free for specialty pharmacies. Sponsored by pharma.
But, you know, helping the thousands and thousands of cancer patients each and every day. So
what does the future look like? You guys have been really at the vanguard and building for
the last few years and I think part of the, really, the pioneer wave of digital health
and really pushing the boundaries very early. Where do you see things going? Where do you
see digital health going? Where you see AdhereTech going over the coming years? Yeah. So I guess
I'll start with AdhereTech. We've been really fortunate to work with enormous leading companies
in healthcare. Part of the reason why they're willing to give AdhereTech a chance is because,
you know, when they do and they see the other companies that have as well, the results are
incredibly strong. We improve adherence by about 20% on average and then we improve time
on therapy, how long a patient stays on a treatment, about 30%. And when you're talking
about, you know, cancer medication for patients that need to take this in order to extend
and save their lives, just the the results are really staggering. So because of those
really strong results we've been really fortunate to have top pharma companies, top pharmacies,
use AdhereTech and grow in those relationships. So, the way that we see our company going,
continuing to grow in that regard. More pharmacies and more pharma companies. Where we see digital
health going is, I'd say pretty analogous to where technology is going in general. You
know, maybe 20 years ago technology was just a part of everyone's life and now it touches
every single aspect. You know, an interesting quote that we once, that I once heard and
probably going to bastardize it in some way was, you know, the human body, it gives off
billions of data points every day. And really, none of that is collected. And, you know,
when you think of the data that's collected when you, for example, go on Amazon and, like,
click through and look at different products. That is much more than what you're, what's
collected from your actual body. So, imagine if we could collect that data. Make sense
of it. And then actually provide health and health recommendations to patients based on
that. The possibilities are enormous. So, you know, we play a part in that general trend
of having technology just improve health and healthcare. So in the future, once technology
continues to improve, costs come down, does every total bottle become a smart pill bottle?
Hopefully, from AdhereTech? We think, eventually, yes. And I wouldn't even stop at the pill
bottle. I would say smart Shampoo bottles or whatever is in your refrigerator. Exactly.
I mean, the food that we eat affects us. That's not measured. I mean, putting intelligence
into different things to get that data, I think, will touch every aspect of our life.
You know, whether it's, like, topical ointments, stuff like that. So could one day this technology
from AdhereTech be on a peanut butter jar? So, we have no plans to, but yes. I mean,
basically, our IP portfolio and the technology, really, is such that any type of container
we can put these sensors into and communicate that data to, you know, an area for analysis.
And what I think is really extraordinary, we didn't talk about this earlier, is it can
measure by volume as well as, even down to the number of pills that are in, based off
of weight. Is that right? It's based off of, it's the same technology that's in your smartphone
that determines when you touch the screen. Okay. But we measure pill touch points inside
of the bottle. Okay. So we have a number of sensors in the bottle. We have like, you know,
one that measures opening and closing of the cap. Another one that measures the contents
of the bottle by volume like you mentioned. Basically, the reason why we went with that
technology as opposed to, you know, weight like you alluded to is, you know, think of
your cell phone. It has that capacitive touch technology. You drop your phone, you toss
it on the couch. It still stays so accurate. Like the iPhone, you know, measures your fingerprint.
Even if you drop your phone 100 times. So it's a really, really durable technology.
One of the many reasons why we went with it. Extraordinary. So you've been an entrepreneur
for years. You've got a very interesting background as a Health Transformer. What are some of
the lessons learned? Some of the things that, some of the wisdom you could pass on to other
entrepreneurs, other Health Transformers? Yeah. I would say number one. Be persistent
in everything you do. In any entrepreneurial journey there will be, sort of, speed bumps
you have to overcome. You know, keep your head down and work through it and solve problems.
Persistence is absolutely key. And then number two, which I guess, let me preface this piece
of advice with, I realize it's going to be a bit self-defeating when I say it, is take
every piece of advice with a grain of salt. Even what I'm saying now. I mean, we've heard
really smart people tell us you have to do A and not B. Even experts aren't always right.
Exactly. And it doesn't mean they're wrong, but they're not always right. So get, you
know, when you hear people give you advice, you know, put it through a filter. See how
it affects you and your business and your decisions and then make the right decision
for you. You said something earlier I thought it was striking about how you really worked
on your strategy to make sure your solution at AdhereTech worked within the value chain.
It worked within the flow that patients already operate within, that pharmacies already operate
within. That pharmaceutical companies also do. How important is that to work within the
workflows or the value chain that are already established? I would say it's key. And particularly,
if you're doing a healthcare company. Because healthcare is slow to change and any change
requirements that you have as a prerequisite in order to use your solution will only hinder
any adoption. So you have to understand how things work already, how you can fit into
how things work, and then improve how things work. But if you're saying, well you know,
in order to use us you got to do X Y & Z first, that's just going to slow your adoption. I
thought it was also interesting how focused you are. You've got a very clear customer.
You've got, you know, who your users are. You know who's paying. A lot of people in
healthcare at the early stage don't understand that who uses is different than who pays sometimes.
But there's a million different directions you could take AdhereTech, but you're consciously
staying very focused on this initial market, even though you could go put the technology,
you know, into peanut butter jars. Yes, completely. So, agree that, you know, focus is of the
utmost importance. And one of the reasons why we have to keep an extreme, sort of, proactive
focus on everything we do, is because when you think of adherence, it really benefits
every party in healthcare. You know, patients, better care, better outcomes, when adherence
is improved. Pharma companies, increase sales, and pharmacies too. Insurers, they now have
healthier patients to care for. They need less expensive, invasive procedures. So because
everyone benefits you really have to say ok this, the potential market is everyone, but
that's not realistic for a company. Where do I see adoption most likely? Where do I
see the most direct ROI? Wo we have to keep extreme focus. Particularly, because we help
so many different parties in the value chain. You guys have been scaling, you've been growing,
tremendous traction. Where can people go to learn more about AdhereTech, both in terms
of, maybe, potential partners and customers, but also consumers. Should consumers ask their
doctors about this? Their pharmacies? Where do people go to learn more? Yeah. I would
say in general, AdhereTech.com. That's where you can, sort of, see the high level overview
of the product. You can contact us via that same page if you have questions that we can
direct you to the right parties. And if you're a consumer that wants to know how they can
get this bottle, and again, we're always free for patients. We're sponsored by healthcare
companies, free for patients. Asking your pharmacy, particularly if it's a specialty
pharmacy, if they carry it yet. And we are carried by most of the largest specialty pharmacies,
but yeah, there may be parties out there that are eligible that just don't know it yet.
Well Josh, thank you for for doing what you're doing. You've been on the vanguard of digital
health, and really, the smart revolution, in terms of bringing data to the internet
of things and and really excited to see, both how far you guys have come over the years,
and really where you're going. I think it's extraordinary. So thank you for being here
and sharing your wisdom. Yeah. Thank you as well. And honestly, StartUp Health has been
a huge, sort of, rocket booster for us. So, I mean, thank you to the whole team and you
specifically, but everyone at StartUp Health. Thank you so much.
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