On December 28, LifeSemantics (CEO Song Seung-jae), a specialized digital health company, announced that it will join the Consumer Electronics Show 2023 (CES 2023), one of the world’s largest IT and appliance expos, to be held in Las Vegas, the United States, in January 2023, to unveil the solution and technology of Redpill Breath, a digital therapeutics (DTx) for patients requiring pulmonary rehabilitation such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
LifeSemantics will participate in the Digital Healthcare section, opening a booth at the Korean pavilion in Eureka Park and offering a program allowing visitors to experience what it is like to live as a COPD patient and an opportunity to experience the solution hands-on. The company expects to spread the benefits of Redpill Breath to various countries, understand the latest global trends in DTx technologies, and gauge global demand for the solution.
The number of COPD patients in Korea is estimated to be more than 3 million. However, only around 2 hundred thousand of them receive medical assistance for the disease, half of whom or more are treated at tertiary care hospitals in Seoul. In the country, pulmonary rehabilitation is primarily provided by tertiary care hospitals because of the cost, place, and medical staff needed for the treatment. The situation is not vastly different in the United States.
Redpill Breath is a digital therapeutics (DTx) that helps patients with self-rehabilitation of their respiratory functions. LifeSemantics developed the solution to address the lack of pulmonary rehabilitation infrastructure and improve its accessibility for patients. The solution offers various features and systems to help patients perform pulmonary rehabilitation activities in the comfort and safety of their homes. For example, Redpill Breath monitors the patient’s oxygen saturation and walking performance to check the patient’s motor performance in real-time, alerts the user with an alarm/text message in case of an emergency or lack of exercise during rehabilitation, adjusts the patient’s exercise level depending on his/her physical conditions using a metronome, and transmits patient data to the medical staff in real-time.
Director Kwon Hee for LifeSemantics DTx Division said, “DTx has been attracting worldwide attention in the global healthcare market as a solution to manage patients’ diseases more efficiently,” and added, “We plan to expand our operations into the US market with Redpill Breath in time with the approval of the solution in Korea. Thus, CES 2023 will give us an opportunity to showcase our outstanding technical expertise to the global market and build a foothold for expanding our infrastructure and accessing international markets.
In September 2021, Redpill Breath became the first pulmonary rehabilitation DTx to have its pivotal clinical trial plan approved by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Once its efficacy and safety are substantiated by the clinical trial, it will be the very first DTx for pulmonary rehabilitation in Korea.