Using data to support respiratory healthcare

Founded in 2021 and launched last month, this health-tech wants to support asthma and COPD patients with data-driven diagnosis and treatment.

It’s estimated that around half a billion people worldwide live with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a lung disease that causes restricted airflow and breathing problems.

Both conditions are incurable but can be managed better with effective treatments and lifestyle adjustments. However, many are not so fortunate and may suffer from uncontrolled versions of the conditions.

Our latest Start-up of the Week hopes to provide aid to those with uncontrolled asthma or COPD.

Phyxiom is an Irish health-tech that wants to improve diagnosis accuracy and treatment outcomes for people with asthma and COPD using its AI-driven data platform. The start-up is targeting specialist asthma care centres, private health insurers and GP pre-referrals.

“At our core is our clinical team and our AI platform that, combined, support clinicians with evidence-based data for their diagnosis and treatment decisions,” says CEO Grace O’Donnell. “We do this by providing clear, precise information that guides their next steps in a timely manner, making for more efficient and cost-effective clinical decisions.”

How it works

O’Donnell, who has more than 20 years of experience in scaling and growing software companies, tells SiliconRepublic.com that she joined the company’s founding research team, Richard Costello and Elaine MacHale, at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences under an Enterprise Ireland commercialisation grant to help bring the research to market.

MacHale, who is director of clinical operations at the start-up, managed clinical trials spanning more than 2,000 patients in several multi-jurisdiction studies prior to the platform’s launch.

“Together we developed the business and market readiness for launch,” says O’Donnell.

But how does the platform operate?

As O’Donnell explains, the start-up has a suite of patented algorithms that provide personalised analytics of a person’s condition.

She says that through randomised clinical trials, including studies published in medical journal The Lancet, the start-up has proven that this analysis is better and more cost effective than current guideline-directed care.

“Our results show better outcomes and cost benefits to the health service, clinicians and patients from a 30pc benefit from accurate diagnosis, 30pc benefit from adherence and prescription management, a 60pc reduction in step-up treatment and 20pc reduction in steroid burden,” she says.

“Phyxiom is unique because the clinicians are provided with data that extends through all phases of management of a persons’ asthma or COPD, including diagnosing the cause of symptoms, identifying why a patient is not responding to treatment and efficiently identifying those at the greatest risk of developing severe asthma and COPD attacks.

“Patients benefit from personalised diagnosis and individualised treatment plans leading to improved asthma control while giving people confidence that their condition has been assessed and understood.”

How it’s going

While the start-up was initially founded in 2021 and officially launched last month, O’Donnell tells us that the company has already had considerable uptake.

The company’s technology is already operational across 13 Health Service Executive (HSE) asthma clinics in Ireland, assessing about 350 patients to date, she says.

Expansion is also on the cards already, according to O’Donnell, who says the company’s main focus over the next two years is the UK and Europe. The company is already positioned and funded for UK expansion in 2026 and is expecting its next fundraise in 2027.

And for its future, the start-up has some ambitious objectives.

“Our goal is to be the dominant respiratory physician platform in the market globally,” says O’Donnell. “Our ambition is to grow the business to have greater than 1m patients on the platform within a five-year timeframe.”

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