A comparison group makes a difference: it helps separate the benefit of the connected service from the improvements that good care can bring on its own. This trial compared a Respiro-supported pharmacy service with pharmacist counselling alone.
Presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress 2022 and funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, it was a cluster randomised trial run across 18 community pharmacies, enrolling 68 adults whose asthma was poorly or partially controlled at the start. Every patient received periodic face-to-face pharmacist counselling. One arm also used the Respiro System, with that counselling personalised on the data it captured.
The primary measure was the Asthma Control Test, the validated score clinicians actually treat to. The Respiro arm improved by 5.9 points, against 2.9 points in the counselling-only arm (p=0.007). A 3-point change on the ACT is considered clinically meaningful, so the Respiro arm gained close to twice that, and close to twice what good counselling delivered on its own.
The abstract also reported an estimated annual saving of €465.71 per patient (p=0.04). In the Respiro arm, adherence was 82% and correct inhalation technique was 64%.
Why the comparison is the point
The meaningful comparison is +5.9 versus +2.9. Both groups improved, but the Respiro-supported group improved more. The result points to an additional benefit from the connected service beyond counselling alone in this trial.
"A controlled trial is a high bar for a digital tool, and Respiro cleared it on a clinical endpoint. Showing both arms is the whole point: it's how you tell apart what the tool did from what would have happened anyway."
Martijn Grinovero, Chief Commercial Officer, Amiko
The report is a conference abstract of a cluster randomised trial with 68 participants. It describes this study population and intervention. See the wider record on our evidence page.
Source: Onnis C, Ferri S, van der Palen J. Effect of a pharmacy-supported digital medicine program on asthma control. Eur Respir J 2022;60(suppl 66):4704 (ERS International Congress 2022). Conference abstract; cluster randomised controlled trial, n=68; funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Describes a study population, not a promise of individual results.