How innovative digital solutions can impact the 1Billion respiratory diseases market: Interview with Lorenzo Consoli, CEO at NuvoAir

According to the Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, more than 1 billion people in the world suffer from chronic respiratory diseases. Chronic obstructed pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are the two most common airways diseases that make breathing difficult. With more than 250 million cases of COPD globally and no cure, COPD is one of the leading contributors to the burden of non-communicable diseases.

Today, there are more than 250M cases of COPD globally. According to the WHO’s prediction COPD will become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. Many cases of COPD and asthma can be prevented and / or treated, if people are diagnosed earlier on. Because breathing is so natural, it is taken for granted. The shortness of breath, for example, might not be seen by the sufferers as a sign for a serious medical condition. Thus, asthma and COPD can go undetected and misdiagnosed until it is too late.

One of the key and most reliable ways to diagnose and monitor COPD is through a spirometer — a device for measuring the volume of air inspired and expired by the lungs. Spirometry also assists in guiding the personalized patient therapy. Being able to measure their lung health in the comfort of their home and share the information with the doctor in real-time via an app could help COPD sufferers and respiratory patients in general maintain a better quality of life.

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However, a closer look at the COPD digital solutions shows that far less than 1% of the 250M addressable target group use COPD apps. At present, majority of the COPD apps are not meeting the needs and demands of the sufferers, nor the market potential. COPD publishers struggle to achieve a significant reach and have little impact on the mHealth app market. The gap between the demand and supply presents an untapped market potential for innovative digital health startups and traditional healthcare stakeholders.

So, why do COPD apps capture far less than 1% of the addressable market? Is it lack of awareness amongst GPs and COPD sufferers, app quality issues, time consuming data input, failure to motivate behavior change and engage users, usability limitations, and / or outdated design?

To share his view on the reasons behind the low success rate of apps aimed at COPD sufferers, as well as the concept and business model behind NuvoAir, one of the novel health tech market players, we talked to Lorenzo Consoli, CEO.

The company’s Air Smart Spirometer is the first ultra-portable spirometer connected to a smartphone that lets users understand their health in seconds, anytime and anywhere.

Enjoy the interview.

Research2Guidance: As a short introduction to NuvoAir, could you please explain what your role is and what your company is offering?

Lorenzo Consoli: I’m the CEO and co-founder of NuvoAir. In a nutshell, NuvoAir combines hardware, software and data to improve lives of people suffering from respiratory conditions and to enable more precise clinical decisions.

Through Air Smart, our award winning digital spirometer and our software patients can perform a spirometry test comfortably sitting at home and monitor how their lung health develops over time.

Our Platform allows patients to share seamlessly the results with their caregivers, who will have a unique, accurate and timely data when they see their patients face-to-face. In fact, healthcare providers can follow their respiratory patients’ lung health anytime and have immediate access to personalized data, so they can focus on most critical patients, reducing costs and improving outcomes.

Finally, our AI engine is combining data from a variety of sources, including environmental data, and soon we will be able to provide much more personalized insights to our users.

Eventually, we want to demonstrate that our solution provides better outcomes in a cost-efficient manner.

Research2Guidance: How do you differ from other asthma/COPD solutions on the market?

Lorenzo Consoli: At NuvoAir, we care about empowering patients to monitor their own health and helping physicians make better clinical decisions. Contrary to many other solutions on the market, our solution includes a CE certified class IIa medical device, which provides an objective measurement about how an individual’s lung health develops over time. Patients and caregivers can take data-driven action when things are worsening.

In addition to our innovative technology, soon we will be releasing an important product aimed at providing much more personalized feedback to our users under the umbrella of a digital health coach.

Design and user experience is also a central pillar of our strategy. We believe that great user experience increases adherence thus supporting better outcomes. The Red Dot Award, the Design-S award and the award at the Medica App competition are a testament to this commitment.

Pricing is also a differentiation point for us. We believe that healthcare should be affordable and our solutions, whether hardware or software, are priced very competitively, without compromising on quality.

Research2Guidance: What is your business model?

Lorenzo Consoli: Given that the healthcare landscape in Europe is very fragmented, our pricing, distribution model and priorities change depending on where we operate.

Generally speaking, with regards to our distribution channels, we work with a variety of customers ranging from hospitals, physicians, telehealth platforms, insurance and Pharma companies.

Our revenue model is a combination of hardware, software and data. For example, in some instances, customers are mainly interested in our hardware, while in other cases they are interested in a full remote care solution. We are happy to provide both options.

Finally, I like to underline that although we are a small company whenever we have the chance we love to give back to the community. In more than one occasion we gave away for free Air Smart to patients in need, hospitals and research organizations.

In his interview Lorenzo Consoli also addresses:

• What is the market response to NuvoAir’s spirometry technology and physicians in which countries are more open to recommend it to their patients?
• Which countries is NuvoAir concentrating on and why?
• What are the challenges faced by the company?
• How far in the future are the entirely AI based coaching services?
• Where are the main barriers for the asthma/COPD apps and what needs to be changed for this market to take off?

To read the full interview, click here