In the 2019 EIT Health Start-ups Meet Pharma programme, teams of graduate students, post-docs and professionals are challenged to develop innovative chronic care solutions that go “beyond the pill”, with support from key pharma partners in Europe.

The programme

Start-ups that are developing digital solutions with an impact on both the pharmaceutical industry and patients are invited to tackle challenges set by top pharma partners. In 2019, five challenges, have been released in collaboration with Amgen, Bayer, Ferrer, Johnson & Johnson, and UCB Biosciences:

1. Providing the right diagnosis at the right point in time – Rheumatoid Arthritis:

Partners: Amgen Tech Hub; Amgen Amgevita Brand.

Areas: Chronic Inflammatory disease; Rheumatoid Arthritis

2.  Telemedicine based patient support program:

Partner: Bayer AG.

Areas: Women’s Health, Cardiology, Oncology, Hematology, Ophthalmology, Pulmonology.

3. Parkinson’s Disease – How to improve the management of “wearing-off” motor episodes (dyskinesias, dystonias); including freezing episodes:

Partner: Ferrer.

Area: Parkinson’s Disease.

4. Creating a Biomarker Measurement Platform:

Partner: Johnson & Johnson World Without Disease.

Areas: Disease agnostic but focusing on Disease Prevention and Interception with positive and negative prediction models.

5. The measurement of skin health in the assessment of treatment efficacy and ability to predict flares for conditions such as atopic dermatitis and chronic spontaneous urticaria currently relies on direct clinical observation which can be subject to variability and subjectivity:

Partners: UCB, Immunology Patient Value Units and Translational Medicine Departments.

Areas: Atopic Dermatitis and Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria.

Is it for me?

The ideal team profile features a combination of skills, such as business-lead and product-development-lead. Selection of teams is based on the quality of the business idea, their fit for the selected challenge and the team’s motivation and level of commitment.

Requirements:

  • Ambition, drive and commitment to fulfil a dream and build a leading company around an innovative idea with a potentially scalable business model.
  • Attendance of at least two team members at all sessions and workshops for the duration of the programme.
  • Willingness to interview at least 100 stakeholders about a business idea.

What we offer

If chosen for the 2019 EIT Health Start-ups Meet Pharma, you will receive training with a commercial value equivalent to approximately €15 000. Additionally, you will receive a financial grant to help support you in travel and other associated costs incurred during the programme of max €10 000. The funding is allocated by the programme and is intended to support two-to-three team members. Generally, Start-ups Meet Pharma accepts 10-to-15 teams within one programme.