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What diseases can mobile app or mobile app cure

Original title: smoking cessation, antidepressant and dementia prevention & hellip& hellip; Japanese media say mobile app may cure diseases

Japanese media said that it has been a century since mankind began scientific drug research and development. Now, the challenge of using digital technology to treat 'heart disease' is ongoing.

App helps quit smoking

According to the website of Japan economic news on October 18, crueapp, a Japanese medical start-up, will sell a smartphone app for treating nicotine addiction as early as 2020. This way of quitting smoking, called behavioral therapy, is equipped in the app as AI. As long as the degree of smoking is input, AI can give advice and encouragement according to the patient's status, just like a doctor at the other end of the mobile phone screen to change the patient's smoking related behavior and living habits. Kota Sasaki, President of crueapp, said, 'this way can make patients get rid of their psychological dependence on nicotine', which is difficult to do with smoking cessation adjuvants.

It is reported that, like ordinary drugs, this app has also conducted clinical trials to test its efficacy. In general, the smoking cessation duration rate (no relapse) after half a year in the smoking cessation clinic is considered to be less than 50%, while it reached 64% in the trial of the app. The company is currently applying for a sales license to include medical insurance in the spring of 2020. The app is expected to become Japan's first 'digital medicine'.

In addition to Japan, there are also start-ups in other countries to promote the research and development of digital drugs. The app used by Pearl therapeutics to treat alcohol and drug poisoning has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company is also developing an app for the treatment of 'opioid' poisoning. Although opioids are used as painkillers for cancer treatment, their addiction has expanded because they can cause hallucinations and excitement. Nearly 50000 people in the United States die from poisoning with such drugs every year. Purdue Pharma, which sells opioids, also faces class action lawsuits. Digital medicine has attracted much attention as a technology that can deal with social problems.

Act on the patient's brain through language and pictures

The website of Japan economic news pointed out that so far, most drugs have an effect on the 'body', while the characteristic of digital drugs is that most of them act on the 'psychology'. Digital medicine breaks common sense and affects the body and mind of patients with language and images through app. These languages and images change the way of thinking and living habits of patients by stimulating the brain, that is, the 'information' obtained from the senses plays a role as drugs.

Addiction, dementia and depression are also brain diseases. After 2000, about 30 large pharmaceutical enterprises in the world have invested more than 600 billion US dollars (about 7.1 yuan per US dollar) to develop therapeutic drugs, but there are still no specific drugs. Digital drugs that act on the brain with language and images may break this deadlock.

Large pharmaceutical companies in Japan have also begun to devote themselves to the research and development of digital drugs. Yanyeyi pharmaceutical company will conduct a clinical trial of Game App for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Japan in 2019. The app is developed by akili interactive labs of the United States, and yanye has the right to sell it in Japan. Using the app is like playing games on a tablet terminal. It stimulates the brain by avoiding obstacles and clicking on the screen.

The advantage of digital medicine is that it does not need to be taken into the body, is not easy to produce side effects, is easy to treat children and pregnant women, and the research and development cost is low. Zuo Zhu, President of cureapp, said, 'it is conservatively estimated that the R & D cost is less than one tenth of that of previous drugs'. Today's smart phones have the functions comparable to those of supercomputers in the past. In this era of one smart phone for each person, the emergence of digital drugs is expected to open a new chapter in human conquering diseases.

Pharmaceutical has also become an information industry

The report believes that digital medicine will also force pharmaceutical enterprises to change their business model. Sakata hengzhao, senior researcher of yanyeyi pharmaceutical, believes that in the future, the pharmaceutical industry 'has to change to the information industry'. The gap between pharmaceutical industry and it industry has narrowed, and new competition will appear.

Japan's Estelle pharmaceutical company is cooperating with Wandai nanmenggong entertainment company to develop an app to help sports. Many of the start-ups who took the lead in developing digital drugs were born in the IT industry. Jinshan Jihao of the RX + Business Creation Department of anstelai pharmaceutical said that "efficient R & D means and resolution mechanism in the IT industry are being introduced". External stimulus has gradually brought changes to the pharmaceutical industry.

The report also believes that while digital medicine brings new participants, it is also a good opportunity for pharmaceutical enterprises that used to be in the position of drug R & D center to expand their business areas. For example, it is possible to diagnose dementia or cerebral infarction by analyzing the patient's speech style and behavior. Nagano muramura of Sumitomo Pharmaceutical Society in Greater Japan said, "we hope to contribute to the system including diagnosis and prevention in the best form, not limited to treatment".