Bold Health Receives Funding from InnovateUK for Research into Digital Therapeutics for Digestive Health

Bold Health, a London-based digital therapeutics company, conducts clinical and mobile health research to develop digital solutions for complex chronic conditions - starting with digestive diseases. Last week, Bold Health received an InnovateUK grant that will enable testing their first app for IBS, Zemedy, in partnership with two NHS hospitals. InnovateUK, a branch of the UK Research and Innovation agency, is a public body enabling business innovation and competitive product development.

Today, Bold Health provides individuals suffering with irritable bowel syndrome an app for the self-management of their condition. Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, is the most commonly observed digestive disorder: up to 50% of patients with gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms referred to a GI clinic are diagnosed with IBS. The mobile application, Zemedy, includes a comprehensive 10-week cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programme designed as an integrative, evidence-based and data-driven therapeutic solution to reducing IBS symptoms. Zemedy recently received a CE mark as a class I medical device – gaining recognition from the European Economic Area (EEA) as a safe and regulated digital therapeutic product. Zemedy is also being tested in a randomised clinical trial run in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

“The InnovateUK grant will partly fund continuing research work between Bold Health and researchers from University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and the University of Manchester on the acceptability and efficacy of Zemedy for IBS within the NHS setting” shared Bold Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jossy Onwude.

While IBS affects up to 17% of the UK population and 15% of the US population, currently-available therapies for the condition are either inaccessible or ineffective. IBS costs UK and US health systems up to £2bn million and $19 billion in direct medical costs, respectively. These figures increase sharply when considering the indirect costs incurred by the functional condition, in terms of loss of workplace productivity. Bold Health therefore are developing Zemedy to improve patient wellbeing, increase access to effective therapies for IBS, and reduce the public health and economic burden of digestive disorders, by digitizing proven therapies.

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