FDA clears Adherium’s usage tracker for AstraZeneca inhaler

Australian smart inhaler maker Adherium has scored an FDA nod for its SmartTouch device, for use with AstraZeneca’s Symbicort aerosol inhalers.

Designed to improve medication adherence, the SmartTouch device attaches to a patient’s inhaler and tracks the date and time that it is used. It then transmits this data to an app on a smartphone or tablet. Physicians can look at a patient’s usage trends to tailor his or her treatment plan.

"The SmartTouch for Symbicort is the most advanced Smartinhaler product to date for Adherium and a key product in our strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca by bringing the benefits of digital monitoring to patients and their physicians," said Adherium CEO Arik Anderson, in a statement.

The FDA clearance is Adherium’s third. Its Smartinhaler offerings include devices and apps that help patients manage respiratory disease.

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The device can be used in home monitoring programs—such as those geared at preventing hospital readmission—where drug adherence after hospital discharge is an important goal, Adherium said in the statement.

In 2015, the companies announced a nonexclusive agreement under which Adherium would supply AstraZeneca with smart inhalers for use with any combination of budesonide and formoterol, the active ingredients in the Symbicort product. The next month, AstraZeneca backed Adherium in its IPO.