Cancer care app ONCOassist has landed a year-long trial with a pharma giant in Lebanon
The Kerry-based outfit hopes the deal will serve as a springboard to move further into the Middle East.
KERRY MEDTECH APP ONCOassist has cut a deal with medical group MSD in Lebanon, opening the company up to the Middle East market.
The app that provides information for oncologists will be partnering with the pharmaceutical company for a one-year trial to offer clinical content about cancer care across Lebanon.
The deal came about after ONCOassist won the MSD Innovation Factory competition in Beirut in March of this year, securing $20,000.
Speaking to Fora, ONCOassist CEO and co-founder Eoin O’Carroll said the new deal is a good springboard for the app giving to move further into the region.
“We have a lot of users in the Middle East already, but (the deal) gives us more exposure and it opens us up to work in the Middle East with other pharmaceutical companies,” he said.
Business model
The company behind the app, Portable Medical Technology, was established in 2012 by O’Carroll and Kevin Bambury along with medical expert Richard Bambury and currently has 12,000 active users worldwide.
ONCOassist claims to be the only oncology app on the market that has regulatory approval for use in a hospital setting.
It is free to download and so the company makes its money through paid distribution of pharmaceutical drugs information – along with other advice on cancer care – on its platform, according to O’Carroll.
He said that oncologists access content quickly in a variety of different places, but the app brings it all onto the one place, while also providing extra content from pharmaceutical companies on drug information and dosage depending on location.
“Everything goes through our CMO (chief medical officer), Richard Bambury, to make sure the content is worthwhile for the clinician,” O’Carroll said.
It currently has deals with pharmaceutical companies across Europe, with O’Carroll saying the company is working with nearly all the pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland.
“We have already cleared the model in Europe so I think if we can grow it similarly (in the Middle East). We are not a big enough company to spread and reach all of these markets so by partnering with one pharmaceutical company it may help us grow in the region,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that ONCOassist is based in Cork. This has been corrected to say that it is based in Kerry.
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