Clinical Grip Training and Assessment Tool for Rheumatoid Arthritis

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BAM Innovation and Optima Design will co-design a disruptive treatment and monitoring device for rheumatoid arthritis (RA): Grip-RA.There is a desperate need for alternative approaches to support patients with this incurable autoimmune disease affecting \>23m people worldwide, with one-third of people with RA stopping working within five years of diagnosis and the biologic drugs used to manage the condition being extremely expensive, with dosages needing tailoring based on changes in disease activity.This project will design an innovative device which facilitates patient engagement, monitoring and condition management. Grip-RA is envisaged as a physical "stress-ball" style interface, with embedded sensors, offering gold-standard physical rehabilitation benefits, whilst capturing rich objective and patient-reported data to support better condition management for patients and clinicians. Its simple interface will be intuitive, customer-focused, and accessible, including to those with severe RA. Patients and clinicians are calling out for non-smartphone based approaches, which have notoriously poor patient adherence.BAMs two Directors have a personal interest in RA with deep condition specific knowledge, particularly considering the patient perspective.This project will build on this knowledge to design a new class of rehabilitative tool that links patient and clinical practice in a fashion which offers far clearer benefit to the user.Our main objectives are to research both the commercial pull and design feasibility of the Grip-RA product. We will research potential markets in depth. Close engagement with potential clients will inform us about their needs and inform the design process. This will allow us to produce product designs (CAD + model) driven by customer needs (e.g. clinicians/trusts and pharma) and co-developed/assessed by RA sufferers facilitated by the Bath Institute of Rheumatic Diseases charity.BAM will benefit through being able to enter UK/global RA markets, The global rheumatoid arthritis drugs market is significant, projected to reach $63bn by 2027 and presents multiple opportunities to develop partnerships deploying our technology. An example is our proposed exploratory partnership with a leading clinical home-care/specialist pharmacy provider.Key external beneficiaries are clinicians receiving better patient data and patients themselves, who will receive better rehabilitation/treatment reducing suffering and supporting better engagement with society and the economy.