Sidekick Health. (12/16/19). "Press Release: Sidekick Partners with Bayer to Provide Digital Therapy Expansion for PAD Patients".

	Region	Sweden
	Organisation	Sidekick Health (IS)
	Group	Sidekick Health (Group)
	Organisation 2	Bayer AG
	Group	Bayer (Group)
	Person	Thorgeirsson, Tryggvi (SidekickHealth 201921 CEO + Co-Founder)

Nordic digital therapeutics company SidekickHealth has entered into a strategic partnership with global pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer to provide a digital medication management and lifestyle change platform to patients suffering from Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).

Sidekick specializes in the creation of gamified digital therapeutic (DTx) solutions and programs, transforming chronic disease management across multiple therapeutic areas in alliance with key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

PAD is a chronic disease, which significantly reduces the quality of life of sufferers and the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that lack of support for people with vascular diseases, including PAD, exposes them to acute, even fatal, cardiovascular events.

Sidekick and Bayer have agreed to launch the program in Sweden, with the aim to roll it out across other European markets, collaborating with key opinion leaders and clinical experts in PAD – including the President of the Swedish Society of Vascular Surgery Dr. Carl Wahlgren – at three leading Swedish university hospitals: Karolinska Institutet, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, and Skane University Hospital.

“Bayer is one of the leaders in the transformation of medicine, and we are thrilled to partner with them to deliver innovative therapies for people with lifestyle-related diseases,” said Tryggvi Thorgeirsson, M.D., MPH, Co-Founder and CEO of SidekickHealth.

“Lifestyle change is at the heart of what we do, and our programs can have a multiplier effect on the positive outcomes of medical care and the world’s best medicines. We reinforce medication adherence and use it as a gateway to bring about positive lifestyle change in a much broader sense. We are excited to be working with Bayer to help patients take that first step and beyond,” Thorgeirsson added.

Sidekick’s clinically validated digital platform has a demonstrated history in helping people modify their behavior, increase treatment adherence and better manage chronic illnesses and symptoms. It has been rated in the top 0.1% in quality by the industry’s leading rating company Orcha and is proud of successful customer launches across multiple therapeutic areas – ranging from type 2 diabetes, ulcerative colitis and smoking cessation.

Earlier this year, Sidekick entered into an agreement with New York-listed Pfizer to develop a DTx smoking cessation solution in partnership with the pharmaceutical giant’s Austrian unit.

Sidekick was recently selected out of over 850 applicants into Silicon Valley’s Plug & Play Health business accelerator, winning first prize at the 2019 Winter Summit in Sunnyvale. The company was also among the ten winners of the 2019 EIT Digital Challenge, operated by Europe’s leading digital innovation organization. Last year Bayer accepted Sidekick into its annual Bayer G4A program, which was created to drive innovation in healthcare. Sidekick was selected as one of 12 companies to participate out of 1,800 applicants.

Record changed: 2023-06-05