AstraZeneca has teamed up with telecoms giant Vodafone to develop a range of mHealth services for patients with cardiovascular conditions.

The global deal will see the partners create new mobile and internet-based services to support patients in areas such as medication adherence and self-management.

On the AZ side the project will be led by the pharma company's 'intelligent pharmaceutical group', which will work closely with local AZ marketing teams.  

Andy Jones, the company's VP pharmaceutical innovation, said: “It is really exciting to see the progress being made in this area. This work is an excellent example of collaboration between AstraZeneca and Vodafone.

"Together we believe we are delivering something that will bring real benefit to patients in this important therapeutic area.”

Vodafone will provide the technology, infrastructure and expertise for these services, as well as the ability to capture data from a variety of sources to improve overall engagement between patients and their health care professionals (HCPs).

Patients will also be offered educational material - personalised for their needs - and the overall service package will include coaching and treatment support elements.

Vodafone said it would be designing the services in such a way to ensure they work across geographies and can adapt to local variations in regulations and patient care.

The company has previously partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to improve childhood vaccination rates in Mozambique and its mHealth projects include collaborating on a Kenyan mHealth pilot scheme to improve maternal health information and education.

Vodafone's latest deal comes as Europe awaits publication of the European Commission's mHealth Green Paper, that will seek views on issues like data protection, privacy compliance, patient safety and legal clarity.

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