Qualcomm and Boehringer Ingelheim Team Up to Add Digital Tech to Inhalers

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Qualcomm Incorporated, through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Life Inc., have announced a new collaboration to develop a connectivity solution for the RESPIMAT inhaler, the platform inhaler for the Boehringer Ingelheim family of respiratory therapies, to help improve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment outcomes.
 
“For more than 40 years, Boehringer Ingelheim has had a commitment to the COPD community to provide new health solutions that can help improve patient outcomes and expand our understanding of COPD,” said Ruchin Kansal, executive director and head of business innovation at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. “Boehringer Ingelheim is proud to join forces with Qualcomm Life to bring the latest technology to our RESPIMAT inhaler with the goal of improving adherence to daily medicines that treat symptoms of COPD.”
 
Through its 2net Design platform, Qualcomm Life is developing the prototype for a small, wireless, low-power, disposable module for the RESPIMAT inhaler. This fully-integrated inhaler, which is designed to seamlessly connect with Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform, will be able to track puffs from the RESPIMAT inhaler, and the collected information can be shared with health care providers and people who have been prescribed one of Boehringer Ingelheim’s RESPIMAT medicines.
 
As with other chronic diseases, poor adherence to treatment plans is common among people with COPD and can result in increased rates of COPD symptoms, health care costs, hospitalizations and even death. The collaboration seeks to combine Boehringer Ingelheim’s global leadership in discovering and developing COPD medicines with Qualcomm Life’s expertise in developing reference designs for wireless, single-use and small integrated modules to create a solution to support adherence to daily treatment regimens.

“Qualcomm Life is committed to powering the Internet of Medical Things to ultimately enable intelligent care to be delivered wherever the patient may be,” said Rick Valencia, president, Qualcomm Life Inc. “We are excited to be collaborating with Boehringer Ingelheim to deliver a more seamless digital health experience that can enable their COPD patients to better manage their disease.”
 
The RESPIMAT is the platform inhaler for the Boehringer Ingelheim respiratory medications. Leveraging Qualcomm Life’s wireless expertise and technologies, 2net Design is a platform for designing the communications components of connected medical devices, including disposable drug delivery devices and disposable diagnostic devices for condition specific connected therapies.
 
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, based in Ridgefield, Conn., is the largest U.S. subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation, one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, the company operates globally with 145 affiliates and more than 47,000 employees. Since its founding in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing treatments for human and veterinary medicine. In 2015, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of about $15.8 billion (14.8 billion euros). R&D expenditure corresponds to 20.3 percent of its net sales.
 
Qualcomm Incorporated is a developer of 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT.