Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer, with 1 in 3 people not surviving past 3 months. That is why charities and organisations are always looking for new ways to support patients with pancreatic cancer and to advance research into this devastating disease. In recent years, digital technology has emerged as a powerful tool in this quest, allowing patients to access information and support from anywhere, at any time, and enabling researchers to collect valuable data that could save lives. However, creating a digital solution from scratch can be prohibitively expensive for many organisations, and off-the-shelf options may not offer the flexibility needed to truly serve patients and researchers.
That’s why Pancreatic Cancer UK has decided to partner with Medli, a digital platform that offers the perfect solution for their needs. “We have been exploring a digital solution for quite some time, but the cost of creating an app from scratch was prohibitive,” said Aimee Perry from the charity. “But equally, an off the shelf option was never going to give us the flexibility that we needed in order to really do this justice for our patients and also researchers. Medli offered us the perfect solution because it offers that great flexibility where we can tailor it, but at a fraction of the cost. Medli has allowed us to take a significant step forward in providing digital support to our community at a low cost and at minimal risk.”
One of the key advantages of the Medli platform is its ability to gather patient-reported outcome measures, which can be invaluable for both patients and researchers. “I think the features that we’re most excited about with the Medli app is the ability to capture those patient reported outcome measures,” said Chris Macdonald, Head of Research. “For people with pancreatic cancer the ability to capture that information about their detection, about their treatment, about their journey of pancreatic cancer is just so empowering and important for them. But that information is really hard to capture in the clinical research context. It’s really rare and when we do get it, we get it inconsistently. So if we’re able to have that data, collect it and have the means by which to analyse it and then provide it for the clinical research community, that’ll be a huge asset in terms of really being able to find the new trends and potential new ways that we can support people with pancreatic cancer to live better and live longer.”
The Medli app can help patients regain control over their treatment and provide a convenient way to store all their medical information. Patients can use the app to log their medications and appointments, track side effects and symptoms, and set reminders to help them stay on top of everything. They can even set up their own trackers to monitor the things that matter to them. “We felt that Medli would really help our patients regain some control. It’s going to give them a place to store all of their information and enable them to fully participate in discussions with the healthcare team and those discussions will really help them make some informed decisions about their care and future plans as well.”
The charity is also excited about the potential for collaboration with other organisations and charities through Medli. “We can see Medli becoming a movement that has the potential to help huge numbers of people. The approach that Medli takes to technology is all about collaboration and that is something that we are incredibly excited about. The opportunity to work across the sector with other charities, and other organisations in our approach to how we use Medli to reach our communities is incredibly exciting.”
The partnership between Pancreatic Cancer UK and Medli promises to be a game-changer for patients and researchers alike. By providing a flexible, affordable, and user-friendly digital platform that can gather valuable data which could lead to better treatments and save lives.