There isn’t much your smartphone can’t do. The power we have in our pockets is sometimes mind blowing. Amongst the torch function, Candy Crush and your banking app, you may begin to find more health tracking, medical based apps thanks to companies like ResApp Health (ASX: RAP).

ResApp is busy developing smartphone applications for the diagnosis and management of respiratory conditions. According to the World Health Organisaton (WHO) an estimated 65 million people suffer from moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The disease is the third leading cause of death worldwide with 3 million people succumbing to it each year. A further 334 million people suffer from asthma. Scarily, these numbers are rising thanks to environmental allergens, long COVID and altered immunological responses. 

Seeking to combat the rising incidence of respiratory disease, ResApp is keen to become the standard of care in disease diagnosis and management with just a smartphone. The Company has two clinically validated products: ResAppDx, a diagnostic test for respiratory disease, and SleepCheck, a smartphone app for self risk assessment of sleep apnoea. Both products hold full regulatory approval being CE Marked in Europe and TGA approved in Australia. 

In an effort to boost the number of clinicians using the tech, the Company has signed a one year agreement with the Dartford and Gravesham National Health Service (NHS) Trust for a pilot of ResAppDx.

With four hospitals under their banner the Trust provides services to over 500,000 people in Kent, United Kingdom. ResAppDx will be initially used in respiratory outpatient service clinics before hopefully expanding into other areas of the hospital, and potentially primary care. 

The pilot will hopefully lead to a commercial agreement, and will also generate trial data for further clinical validation of the platform. 

Dr Tony Keating, CEO and Managing Director of ResApp commented on the partnership saying: “This is an exciting step forward for ResAppDx in Europe, our first pilot with the NHS is an exciting milestone. We look forward to working closely with Neil and his team at Dartford & Gravesham Trust to help fully realise the benefits that ResAppDx can offer to the Trust. While the revenue from the pilot is not material at this time, we will gain significant learnings, data and experience throughout this process which will support our efforts to commercialise ResAppDx with other NHS Trusts and more broadly in Europe.” 

For the half year ended 31 December 2021 ResApp saw a 75% increase in revenue and reported a cash balance of $3.4 million.