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Digital health is the use of software and digital technology in healthcare. It is a huge growth area with a myriad of new health and fitness tracking devices (and associated software), APIs and apps flooding the market that interact with health care providers, pharmaceutical companies and health insurance providers.
The role of software in these fields can be hugely important.
Its role can range from tracking health parameters and realising it is possible to predict a possible heart attack to mining data to derive pointers towards new medicines or treatment regimes. In general, however, the scope for protection is wide if the software can be credibly linked to improving the treatment. Both patents and database rights can be valuable.
This means software developers must give a great deal of thought as to where the innovative use of apps, data, models, tracking, monitoring, sensors, online guides, graphics or information linked to treatment is being used. As arguably Europe’s foremost digital health and therapeutics patent team, we are well placed to assess whether this type of invention is genuinely new and inventive in a healthcare context.
What is also important for software developers to understand is the value of the data their apps may be generating.
If the data can help create a personalised medicine regime or identify different dosages, then it has tremendous value. Accordingly, ensuring that the software developer has rights over the data, or the authoring of the databases created by the software, will mean that you can form a partnership with healthcare providers on a more equal footing.
If you are developing software for MedTech, digital health or digital therapeutics and you’d like to discuss how best to maximise its commercial value with one of the software specialists in our dedicated electronics and communications team, please contact us today.
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