Pipo

The problem we are targeting is the lack of adherence of chronic-disease patients to their treatments. Every year, more than 3 million patients die because of treatment non-adherence. In addition, this non-adherence causes a loss of more than USD 637 billion to Pharma and Health companies every year. Three of the main causes for this problem are being solved by us: 1) patients are not well-educated about the options and relevance for continuing their treatment, 2) have planning and logistical problems for attending their medical appointments and taking medications at the right time, y 3) the disease is emotionally exhausting for them. 

We have developed a virtual companion and assistant for chronic-disease patients that helps them in three main ways: 1) reminders about medications and medical appointments, 2) monitoring of symptoms and emotions, 3) answering doubts about their disease and treatments, y 4) recommending emotional containment exercises. The virtual assistant is powered by conversational AI and works through WhatsApp.

We are targeting chronic-disease patients mainly from Spanish-speaking countries. The current profile of our patient is: middle-to-low-income, female, 35-60 years old, and with a cancer diagnosis. As per our internal evaluation, 90% of our patients are in risk of treatment abandonment, specially due to emotional, economical, and physical (symptom overload).

The founding team of PEOPL is conformed by three members (Piero, Briggite, and Sebastian). In addition, there are other 5 members in the team dedicated to operations and technology. Briggite and Piero are bioengineers that have worked in Pharma companies very close to Adherence Initiatives, specially for cancer and diabetes treatments. The parents of Sebastian, Piero, and Briggite have had cancer, so they have experienced the problem from a very close distance. We are also always learning from our patients (one of our metrics is the amount of patients we have talked with), and optimising our product according to their use data. We also have great advisors that love the problem and represent communities: Youseph Yazdi MD PhD MBA (Executive Director of the Business School at Johns Hopkins University), Jurgen Schochinsky (Ex-CEO of Roche Peru and ex-executive of Pfizer Mexico), and UTEC Ventures (a very known accelerator in the region).

We're currently helping +2500 oncological patients from +14 countries across Spanish-speaking communities within Latin America, United States, and Europe. 90% of our patients are women and 95% come from middle-to-low-income countries.

Currently, our most important problem is distribution and Go-to-Market. Our business model for Go-To-market is to replace Patient Support Programs of Pharma companies (being more effective, accesible, and cheaper). For that, triggering the first contract with the company is difficult (meeting their demands for clinical validation, segmentation of users, technology robustness). Besides, we lack the distribution efficiency to scale our product (we achieved to get to 15 countries organically, but it has been difficult to grow from there with a minor budget of USD100 for marketing). In this sense, advisory in strategy and business development could help us greatly, as well as connections with partners for the distribution of the product (media, hospitals, health companies, etc.).

PEOPL is the first alternative of its kind because it has the highest engagement rate on the market, therefore it also collects a greater volume of information than any other project. Current options are very focused on getting data to pharmaceuticals without being good usability for the patient, while PEOPL is patient-centric and scales from there. On the other hand, although the Go-To-Market is a license to pharmaceuticals financed by the PSPs (patient engagement as a service) budget, at PEOPL we have planned a roadmap that will also make us connect users with treatments, actors and supplies of health (lead generator), as well as giving access to chronic treatments from loans to patients (financing).

For next year:

1.  Reach 50 000 patients from Mexico actively being helped by our companion

2. Increment the treatment adherence of our patients by at least 10% through the use of Pipo

3. Start monetization with Pharma companies, having 4 B2B2C contracts secured and representing 0.8MM ARR

For the next 5 years:

1. Have financing services for chronic-disease treatments, incrementing the access for low-income patients through low interest loans.

2. Connect third-party health services to patients that need them (as a marketplace), finding the best prices and services for our users.

3. Be able to adhere patients from other diseases like diabetes

1. User retention and engagement (soon we will be measuring treatment adherence)

2. User acquisition

3. NPS

By making the patients 1) not fogetting their appointments and medication intakes, 2) getting their doubts about their treatment options answered, and 3) feeling better and having someone to talk with, we will get them to continue their treatment. By continuing their treatment, they get to have a longer and more profitable live. On the other side, actors from the health ecosystem also benefit from this treatment adherence, as insurance companies will have less risky patients, hospitals and doctors will keep receiving users, and health companies will increment their profitability. In 5 years, we also plan to close the loop: we will connect patients with treatments (marketplace), finance those treatments (providing loans), and monitor these chronic patients.  

We are using a chatbot powered by conversational artificial intelligence, as well as messaging services already available (WhatsApp).

Currently 50% of the team is female, 100% of it also has latino origin. As minorities ourselves, we plan to keep the diversity representation this way. We also have a stock options plan for our employees, where they become active holders of a participation in the company.

Pharmaceutical companies have created Patient Support Programs (PSPs) to increase this adherence. PSPs may pay the patient a taxi ride to the hospital, offer her heavily discounted medication, or even call her to assess her emotional state every two weeks. In Peru, PSPs cost up to USD$150K for 200 patients a year, and worldwide pharmaceutical companies spend up to 10% of their annual budget on treatment adherence initiatives. With PEOPL, we allow pharmaceutical companies to cover more patients in their PSPs, increasing and measuring much more data on the adherence of their patients, at a much more comfortable price.

We will monetise initially by getting B2B2C contracts with Pharma companies for their patient support programs (PSPs). In 2 years, we will start offering a marketplace service for patients to find the best and most accesible options for their treatments. In 4 years, we will also start offering loans with a minor interest for patients to increase their access to high-cost treatments.

We have already raised USD 150K as a pre-seed round from investors, which will let us optimise our operations and technology until being able to trigger our fist B2B2C contracts with the Pharma companies.