First of all, could you explain the activity of Biocorp to our readers?

Some current issues would be related to regulatory constraints: regulation first came in the United States and now Europe, leading to provide needlestick protection to prefilled syringes range.

With regard to patients, we have observed over the past two years that addressing the problem of adherence may be a determining factor: what about the overall relevance of a drug when it is not correctly taken by a patient? It also has a social impact as well with the product being covered by insurance companies, whether they are public or private. You must have a clear idea of what the patient is doing correctly or not. This is where providing tools to connect devices does really make sense. That’s why Biocorp has spent a lot of time and money over the past two years developing platforms to tackle this issue.

We aim to develop a solution that meets the needs of patients or pharmaceutical companies, or both! It is about providing the simplest and best solution, that is to say a simple solution to qualify from a regulatory point of view profitable enough to be widely accepted and promoted to the patient. We have tried to move forward with this solution and advance in this segment with a solution as simple as possible and very easy to use as we think it is a very important asset for these devices to be used in the long term, it’s our goal.

It's not about connectivity by itself, which means it's not just adding a connectivity feature without thinking. A more global consideration is necessary: why is connectivity important for the patient? How would the device interface with other data that the patient already has? The case of diabetes is a very good example where you can have different types of data. That’s why we want to make sure that the data you get from our devices is easy to collect and easy to use without adding complexity! Life is complicated enough for patients without adding complexity! That's why connectivity is useful when providing an extra service.

I think the mindset of patients has changed by seeing the benefits of connectivity versus some risks. However, there is always a balance between advantages and disadvantages. We have the European market and the US market: both markets venture to accept smarter surveillance devices. The United States and Europe have guidelines and regulations that we follow closely. Biocorp has a team dedicated to cybersecurity that ensures the data; we respect the rules and we follow the guidelines.

It is important to say that the data must be secured, but it must also be available when necessary. At the same time, giving data to other providers will offer additional services to patients.

To me, there is a global tendency of launching new devices on the market with “intelligent” features and it is beneficial for BIOCORP not being alone in that game. However, we want to be the most important player in that field and define new standards of care. We are planning a commercial launch next year, which is obviously an important step. We will provide a drug delivery device on the market and will obtain real-time data from patients, as well as acceptance and rate of use of the program.