HELSINKI, Finland, 18 April 2018 – Finnish Student Health System (FSHS), Meru Health, and eClinicalHealth have partnered to study the efficacy and feasibility of a digital therapeutic intervention for depression in a randomized-controlled clinical trial. Participants are students at the Finnish Student Health System clinics who suffer from depression, a common mental disorder increasing in frequency among the student population. A total of 120 students with depression will be recruited to the study from FSHS’s units all over Finland. The digital therapeutic program is developed by Meru Health and it is used mainly through a smartphone application. Data will be collected and analyzed with a remote, direct-to-patient, virtual clinical trial platform for data collection and monitoring called Clinpal, developed by eClinicalHealth Ltd.
Psychiatric disorders pose the biggest threat to students’ ability to study, because they make studying much more difficult. According to studies by the FSHS, about one-fifth of all students have symptoms of depression and anxiety.
“The number of depression diagnoses in students treated at the FSHS has increased by 50% within the last ten years. New ways are needed to help these students. We are excited to join forces with Meru Health to investigate how a digital therapy program for depression works in students”, says Pauli Tossavainen, Mental Health Medical Director at the FSHS.
“We’re delighted to join a research project with the FSHS to develop the treatment of depression in students. Meru Health’s therapy program, which is used via a smart phone application, offers a real-time digital contact with a therapist, and the preliminary outcomes achieved through the program are promising”, continues the doctor in charge of the study, Anu Raevuori, Medical Director at Meru Health.
”Meru Health engaged us early in the design of the protocol and operational execution. This is the ideal situation, allowing us to provide them with the most value using the Clinpal rapid development and deployment technology and services package for this exciting, fully mobile-based CNS trial,” said Karl Landert, CEO of eClinicalHealth Ltd.
About Finnish Student Health System (FSHS)
Finnish Student Health System is a country-wide, university student health system in Finland. The FSHS produces student healthcare services for about 125,000 university students in Finland every year.
About Meru Health
Meru Health is a Palo Alto, California and Helsinki, Finland -based company, and is the creator of an 8-week digital therapeutic intervention for depression, which includes a smartphone application, a personal therapist, and an anonymous peer-group functionality. Meru Health is committed to reducing suffering and empowering people living with depression.
About eClinicalHealth
Headquartered in Scotland, eClinicalHealth Limited, developers of the revolutionary Clinpal patient engagement platform, was founded in early 2012 to provide innovative clinical trial solutions. The company is committed to leading open and collaborative innovation discussions about patient-centric clinical trial processes and technology with pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and other service and technology providers.
Contacts:
Finnish Student Health System (FSHS)
Pauli Tossavainen, Mental Health Medical Director
Meru Health
Kristian Ranta, Founder & CEO
eClinicalHealth – Clinpal
Mark Taggart, Business Development EMEA
Read about the Clinpal LightSpeed solution that powers this study.