KUALA LUMPUR: Healthcare access company Axios International has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WeCareJourney, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients in Malaysia. The partnership will allow WeCareJourney to leverage on Axios' innovative solutions to provide the support the rare disease patients in Malaysia need.
Signing the agreement on behalf of Axios was Axios International's senior director of global consulting, Roshel Jayasundera, who said that the company believes that this partnership would benefit the patients and their family.
"At Axios, we firmly believe partnerships are effective tools to enable healthcare access. How do we come together to improve access in Malaysia and comprehensively address adherence challenges without putting the burden on one single player? Today, we're here with WeCareJourney to offer rare disease patients access to treatment solutions and provide support to overcome adherence barriers. Through this partnership, our hope is to support the longer-term patient benefits and the holistic patient journey for the rare disease community," said Jayasundera.
The signing event which took place at the "The role of digital healthcare in providing holistic support solutions beyond the hospital setting" conference convened by Axios.
As a parent to an SMA patient himself, Edmund Lim, who is also on the panel discussing digital healthcare, founded the WeCareJourney as an effort to bridge key awareness, advocacy, research, and medical and social support gaps for the wider SMA community in Malaysia.
"Axios International is a global organisation with a strong track record in establishing and running programmes, that I consider as 'lifelines', for eligible patients to the vital medicines they need. Today, I am excited to sign this MoU with Axios, which will bring Axios and WeCareJourney together to make a difference to the lives of patients and families with rare diseases," shared Lim.
Axios International first launched Axios+, its suite of digital solutions, in Malaysia in 2021. Today, Axios+, is connecting various healthcare stakeholders in one ecosystem to streamline patient care.
"If we truly aim to support patients wherever they are, we need to focus on care beyond the clinical setting, using digital as an enabler," said Jayasundera.
At the forum, the panellists also discussed the future of healthcare beyond the hospital and the role of digital solutions.
To start the conversation, Jayasundera shared her own experiences having to use the MySejahtera app, which according to her, although she flustered at start she personally believes that this is the way forward, a glimpse of what digital healthcare is all about — having the needed data for the benefit of others— to learn from the pandemic and what it has taught us especially in healthcare industry.
"Covid-19 was both a catalyst and a reason to advance towards the digital landscape we know today; we have to find the right partners and the ones who are willing to participate," she said.
When asked whether Malaysia is suitable for digital healthcare, Axios International's head of digital, Raphael Itah, assured that "Malaysia is one of the leading countries in Asia when it comes to digital, and we want to harvest its fertile ground to take digital healthcare forward".
"Digital technology is crucial in Malaysia and the rest of the world because it creates a connected care pathway and strengthens the relationship between patients and healthcare providers. It also supports the patient throughout the patient journey and creates an efficient management system which provides data and information to understand what happens to patients when they leave the hospital by leveraging real world insights," explained Itah.
In Axios International's Programmes which leverage Axios+, the processing time from physician referral to a patient's access to treatment is reduced by 55 per cent on average.
With tailored apps and platforms for various stakeholders in a patient's treatment journey, the Axios+ ecosystem first focused on bridging access gaps between patients, physicians, pharmacists, NGO partners and more.
Today, Axios+ is equipped with a host of adherence features addressing evolving patient needs; these help patients discover more about their disease and programme through educational materials; they learn to live a better lifestyle and they have the option to become part of a community to exchange experiences and concerns.
"All four digital solutions have been developed with 25 years of human experience behind it. We know the patient is at the centre of the framework, and we have developed solutions to serve and support these patients," said Itah.