Digital innovations, Lifelight and PocDoc, announced as winners of Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst 2022

London, 28 September 2022 — Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK has today announced that Xim, creators of Lifelight, and PocDoc are the successful companies of the Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst 2022, in partnership with Medtronic, RYSE Asset Management, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and its official charity CW+.

Lifelight and PocDoc will receive support to scale their innovative digital solutions for cardiovascular disease (CVD) care. The companies were selected by a prestigious judging panel at the Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst 2022 Pitchfest, hosted at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology (HETT) Show at ExCeL, London.

Through a world-first partnership spanning across industries, the Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst aims to transform CVD patient pathways, harnessing the power of data and digital to empower patients to improve their heart health, and to help prevent ill-health.

The initiative provides Lifelight and PocDoc with access to the Novartis Biome UK eco-system, as well as the opportunity to work with NHS partners to set up and deliver a pilot evaluation of the winning innovations. The companies will also have the opportunity of investment up to £3 million provided by RYSE Asset Management, subject to due diligence at RYSE’s discretion.

The companies have been selected because of their potential to remodel patient care pathways for CVD; offering novel approaches to non-invasive lipid testing and at-home blood pressure management.

Marie-Andrée Gamache, President and Managing Director UK & Ireland, Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd, comments: “The selected companies of this year’s Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst present a bold opportunity to accelerate faster diagnosis, earlier intervention and prevention of ill-health in CVD. I am looking forward to working with our cross-industry partners to support the scaling of these innovations with the aim of saving lives and overcoming health inequalities.”

Laurence Pearce, CEO and founder, Xim, creators of Lifelight, said: “We are delighted to have been selected to participate in the Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst this year, and look forward to working in close collaboration with Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK through its Biome to bring our solution to patients.”

Steve Roest, CEO and Co-founder, PocDoc, comments: “We are thrilled to be embarking on this journey with Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK and its partner network as organisations that share our passion for supporting the digital transformation in healthcare. The Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst 2022 was a natural collaboration opportunity for us as we look to scale our solution – something we know will be aided with close collaboration.”

Further information on the winning innovations can be found below:

Lifelight

• Lifelight is game changing technology that allows a smartphone or tablet device to measure blood pressure, pulse, breathing rate and oxygen saturations, simply by looking into the device's built-in camera for up to 40 seconds. Completely contactless, with no additional hardware or calibration needed, it saves healthcare staff time while improving the patient experience, avoiding the need for healthcare staff to make physical contact with patients and avoid cross-contamination of devices from one patient to another. Lifelight, the world's only clinically validated and regulated software vitals solution, overcomes the barriers to remote personal healthcare monitoring for all, allowing every device on the planet to be turned into a self-monitoring healthcare platform.

PocDoc

• PocDoc's mission is very clear and simple - we want to empower patients to improve their health, by making it easier for people to test themselves, or be tested, for major disease markers, starting with cardiovascular disease and a full lipid panel. More people will be treated correctly for CVD and this will reduce CVD events. This in turn will reduce hospital admissions over any given 12 month period, meaning in-year cost savings and freed up hospital resources, as well as a healthier, more engaged population.