ANDHealth, Australia’s leading digital health commercialisation organisation, today announced the five companies selected for the second cohort of the ANDHealth+ program, funded by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Announced by ANDHealth Managing Director and CEO Bronwyn Le Grice at HLTH 2022 in Las Vegas, the five companies selected for the 2022 ANDHealth+ cohort are:

• Baymatob: Tackling the leading cause of preventable maternal death, this AI-powered wearable called ‘Oli PPH’ predicts post-partum haemorrhage before birth, enabling intervention to improve the health of mums and babies.

• BioEye: Identifies and monitors mild traumatic brain injuries (including concussion) through smartphone camera eye-tracking technology, putting a validated neurological assessment in everyone’s hand.

• Macuject: Aiming to save the sight of patients, Macuject uses AI-driven decision support to enable faster, better and more consistent decisions for clinicians, personalising the treatment of macular degeneration patients under their care.

• Neurotologix: Pioneering the remote diagnosis of dizziness and vertigo, ROMI is a portable, durable and accurate solution powered by a fully integrated internet-of-things enabled system.

• WeGuide: Driving simplicity and speed, WeGuide allows rapid, easy creation of personalised patient engagement tools for research trials and healthcare needs through their regulatory-approved no-code platform.

ANDHealth Managing Director and CEO Bronwyn Le Grice said, “From global experience, we know that the digital health sector needs to be supported by sustained investment and experienced investors to drive improved health and economic outcomes.

“The $19.75 million investment by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund in 2021 for the expansion of the ANDHealth+ program ensures we can support those Australian digital health companies with the greatest chance of commercialising novel digital health technologies in the Australian and international markets.”

ANDHealth+ is the only digital health commercialisation program in Australia proven to drive clinical and commercial outcomes at scale. To date, companies in the 2021 program and prior ANDHealth+ pilot have impacted over 432,000 patients, commenced 51 clinical trials and studies, and raised over A$77 million in dilutive and non-dilutive financing.

This year’s cohort was selected through a highly competitive screening process by ANDHealth’s multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral selection judging panel and International Investment Committee. The five successful companies will share in a pool of $3.75 million of non-dilutive investment via the ANDHealth Digital Health Accelerator Fund and over $500,000 of pre-qualified expert services.

Global digital health expert and chair of ANDHealth’s International Investment Committee Lisa Suennen said, “Australia has a sound record of outstanding innovation in the digital and digitally enabled medical technology field and I am impressed by the quality of the five companies selected in this second cohort. I am looking forward to working with them as they look to address commercialisation challenges specific to each company and technology, on their path to growth and international market entry.”

Baymatob, BioEye, Macuject, Neurotologix, and WeGuide will be the second round of companies to take part in the ANDHealth+ program, with the 2021 ANDHealth+ cohort including Cardihab, Gheorg, Perx Health, Sound Scouts, and VaxApp.

CEO and Co-founder of Perx Health Hugo Rourke commended the ANDHealth+ program, “ANDHealth+ is Australia's best program for supporting digital health companies and for accelerating the life-saving impact of digital health for our nation. It has been a great forcing mechanism for us to focus on what matters most to unblock commercialisation.”

Founder and CEO of Sound Scouts Carolyn Mee added, “ANDHealth+ offers the opportunity to make a giant leap, with both support and funding in place to execute the perfect landing.”

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About the 2022 ANDHealth+ Cohort

Baymatob

Baymatob's AI-enabled maternal health platform, Oli, aims to transform health outcomes for mothers and their babies. Oli aims to diagnose previously undiagnosable complications, starting with post-partum haemorrhage (the leading cause of preventable maternal death globally), reinventing pregnancy and labour monitoring, and becoming the new, improved, standard of care.

Quote from Tara Croft, CEO, Baymatob:

“At Baymatob, we are looking to create an entirely new standard of care for mothers and their babies via our digital platform, Oli. To achieve the breadth of impact that we intend for Oli, getting our commercial strategy and execution right is just as important as the technology and clinical evidence we are generating. That is why we are so thrilled to be a part of this year's ANDHealth+ cohort, as we believe the support and expertise the program offers will be extremely helpful on our path to success.”

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BioEye

Concussion in sports is a serious condition that, if not properly managed, can lead to short-term cognitive impairment and long-term disability (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) for millions of people worldwide. 69 million individuals are estimated to sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. Current gold-standards for management, outlined in the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport, are often subjective measures of reported symptoms. Its eye-tracking solution, which uses a test protocol developed with world-leading neurologists and is in clinical trials with the AFL, offers an objective, low-risk and side-line ready measure of brain function for improved concussion and recovery analysis to inform better healthcare and return-to-play decisions.

Quote from Marcus Schweizer, CEO, BioEye:

“We’re delighted to join the AndHealth+ program and be included in the growing list of Australian health organisations who are making a positive impact on the lives of patients. BioEye is an innovative eye-tracking application that assists with concussion management by providing users with reliable and easy to access ocular-motor tests that assess brain health. AndHealth+ is an ideal partner for BioEye to advance both our science and commercial work, take BioEye to the next level and further our support for Australians affected by concussion.”

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Macuject

Macuject is tackling preventable blindness globally to save the sight of people that are not treated optimally. Macuject's AI-enabled decision-support enables faster and more consistent decisions while compiling deep clinical insights valued by both clinicians and Pharma companies. It nudges clinicians towards evidence-based, personalised treatment, and generates deep point-of-care insights through unique data analytics services (for both Pharma and clinicians themselves).

Quote from Devinder Chauhan MBBS MD FRCOphth FRANZCO, Founder & CEO, Macuject:

“We’re very excited to be an ANDHealth+ cohort company, particularly because of the tailored coaching and access to international advisors involved.”

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Neurotologix

Neurotologix has developed the world’s first remote patient monitoring system for dizziness and vertigo. Assessing episodic dizziness and vertigo has been an unmet medical need for decades. Neurotologix’s ROMI (Remote Oculography Monitoring Informatics) system is the first proven commercial solution to address this worldwide need and has been described as a “game changer” by clinicians. Neurotologix was the Winner of the Best Early-Stage Biomedical Innovation 2022 Science on-the-Swan Showcase; Winner of the 2022 INCITE technology awards - social impact category; and Finalist for the 2022 WA Innovator of the Year - Wellbeing and Immerging Innovation categories (winners announced in December).

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WeGuide

The regulatory approved WeGuide platform allows healthcare organisations to quickly and simply create their own patient engagement apps for their research trials or healthcare needs. They have taken their 10 years of digital health experience and learnings and crystallised them into a self-service no-code digital health platform. WeGuide has shown that creating a relationship with patients significantly improves adherence, data quality and outcomes. Notably, WeGuide was used by a global WHO Covid decentralised trial with over 7000 health professionals in the USA, UK, Netherlands, Brazil, and Australia.

Quote from Sanji Kanagalingam, CEO, WeGuide:

“We are excited to be part of this program helping us take WeGuide onto the global stage. A no code platform to build your own patient engagement apps with a goal to improve the lives of 10 million patients.”

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