“Recently - explains Dr. Annibali - a new class of drugs was introduced for the treatment of some chronic lymphoproliferative diseases which has demonstrated efficacy in terms of response and survival to the disease. However, continuous monitoring by the patient and the doctor is necessary to observe the possible occurrence of side effects, adherence to treatment as well as interaction with other drugs that can increase or decrease its effect”.
The project carried out by two research units UCBM is among the winners of the Digital Health Program 2016
3th November 2016 - A simple and intuitive app to monitor the onset of side effects due to drugs used in the treatment of chronic lymphoid leukemia. Made by the researcher UCBM Ombretta Annibali,Unit of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, With the collaboration of Luca Vollero, researcher ofProcessing Systems and Bioinformatics Unit, the project concerns in particular the evaluation and monitoring of kinase inhibitors, drugs used for the treatment of chronic lymphoid leukemia (the most common leukemia among the adult population of Western countries) and follicular lymphoma.
Through the app, designed for smartphones, and an IT platform to support data communication, it is possible to immediately evaluate the perceived toxicities and their degree of intensity in order to establish the most suitable type of intervention as soon as possible. This is the goal of the project UCBM, which also ranks among the seven winners of the Gilead Digital Health Program 2016, a call for the development of digital technologies to improve theoutcome, the quality of life and therapeutic assistance of patients suffering from certain pathologies such as HIV, viral hepatitis, invasive fungal infections and precisely chronic lymphoid leukemia and follicular lymphoma. A participation that has earned the researchers the achievement of a prize worth 40 thousand euros, a fund that will be invested in the development of the project within an incubator specialized in the digital sector.