An app for remotely monitoring cancer patients has just had a the project approved by the Fapesp (São Paulo State Research Foundation) Program for Innovative Research in Small Businesses (PIPE). The tool had a first version launched in 2017 by the startup WeCancer and had a large number of hospitals taking part, with more than 2,5 users and an average of 800 consultations per month.

With FAPESP's approval, the company will aim to develop a preventive model for hospitalizations, adding artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to the app. This will increase the tool's impact on the Unified Health System (SUS), avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations and reducing treatment costs.

How the app works

Cancer patients receive access to the app from hospitals to enter data via cell phone, which is monitored remotely by professionals from a dashboard. Each patient's profile on the app contains personal data, medications being used and packing list daily routines. The physical and psycho-emotional health indicators are transformed into graphs accessed by the doctor, who monitors the clinical condition and the patient's progress during treatment.

César Filho, co-founder and CEO of the company, explains that the platform offers an area for symptom management and another for organizing treatment journeys. There is also an area with informative content and a chat, through which cancer patients can interact directly with the nursing team.

For patients, the app is free and can be found for Android and also on iOS. The company licenses the software to hospitals and the hospital staff can use it as a channel for interacting with patients, or they can choose to outsource the care service, using WeCancer's own team. In addition to the business model focused on hospitals, the company also has a focus on the pharmaceutical industry, where specialized care is provided, including immunotherapy, for example.

Among the institutions that already use the WeCancer platform are the hospitals Israelita Albert Einstein, Beneficência Portuguesa, Municipal Vila Santa Catarina and the Instituto de Oncologia do Paraná. In the business unit focused on the pharmaceutical industry, the application is also used by Roche and AstraZeneca.

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Government of São Paulo