Propeller Health Completes $21.5 Million Financing to Transform Respiratory Disease through Digitally-Guided Therapy

MADISON, Wis., Oct. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Propeller Health, the leading digital solution for respiratory medicine, today announced the closing of its $21.5 million Series C financing. The funding round includes new investors 3M Ventures, S.R. One, Limited and Hikma Ventures, and existing investors Safeguard Scientifics and Social Capital. Proceeds will be used to expand Propeller's digitally-guided therapy platform and modernize the management of respiratory disease.

Despite an abundance of effective medications, the burden of chronic respiratory disease remains unacceptably high. Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) continue to negatively impact the lives of over 50 million people and cost payers and patients in the United States over $100 billion annually. Many patients need help to better manage conditions on their own, while physicians lack tools to understand how their patients are doing between visits and to adjust therapy to match their levels of impairment and risk.

Propeller's digitally-guided therapy platform integrates information from multiple sources, including connected medications, then uses machine intelligence to recommend an optimal path of therapy for each individual. Many patients require only adaptive self-management and technique training, delivered via Propeller's patient products, while others benefit from dose and schedule recommendations, changes to visit frequency, automated clinical outreach, and recommendations for type and frequency of care manager outreach, all delivered to providers via Propeller's proprietary care team tools and APIs.

"We aim to make today's treatments more accessible, personal, powerful and convenient for each person who uses them, and enable physicians to measure, analyze and act to help their patients," said David Van Sickle, CEO of Propeller. "Our goal is to connect and guide these patient-physician teams to find the right path of therapy for each individual."

With the majority of inhaled medications now connected to its software platform, Propeller has grown significantly over the last 12 months with over 45 programs signed with leading healthcare systems such as Dignity Health and Nemours Children's Health System, managed care organizations such as Molina Healthcare and innovative at-risk entities such as ChenMed. This growth has been driven by rapid adoption of its platform among pharmaceutical manufacturers and the country's largest payers and healthcare providers, who seek a better approach to asthma and COPD management. New program starts and the expansion of existing programs, such as with industry leading innovator Dignity Health, have been driven by strong clinical and financial results seen across programs, and from large-scale clinical trials published in the peer-reviewed literature.

"Propeller is bringing a smarter, digitally-guided approach to the management of respiratory disease, an area of significant economic burden to healthcare systems," said Rajeev Dadoo, Partner at S.R. One, Limited. "The company uniquely combines unprecedented real world evidence about how patients take their medications, with a deep understanding of what people want from their respiratory treatment. Propeller routinely demonstrates consistent and measurable results in patient satisfaction, clinical improvement and cost savings across diverse program, payer and patient types."

"Our investment in Propeller Health demonstrates our focus on identifying and investing in innovative, high potential digital health providers," said Lana Ghanem, Managing Director of Hikma Ventures. "We are very excited to support the development of Propeller's technology platform, which is enabling physicians, patients and providers to have advanced access to better quality data in the growing respiratory segment." 

About Propeller

Propeller empowers people with asthma and COPD to live measurably better lives. In 2010 Propeller set out to modernize respiratory medicine, empower people to minimize the impact of asthma and COPD on their daily lives, and connect them to their physicians, environment and community. Propeller's information-powered approach to respiratory management guides physicians and patients to the optimal path of therapy for each individual. With connected inhalers, digital interfaces, and real time personalized insights, participants receive personal guidance and expert direction anytime. Backed by 3M Ventures (NYSE: MMM), SR One, Hikma Ventures (LON: HIK),, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), Social Capital and other investors, Propeller has been used by patients with asthma or COPD in over 45 commercial programs across the US at major healthcare systems, payers, employers and other commercial partners. The company has been recognized as the recipient of the American Telemedicine Association's 2016 President's Award for Innovation in Remote Healthcare and as one of the top "Fierce 15" medical device companies in 2015 by FierceMedicalDevices. For more information visit: www.propellerhealth.com

SOURCE Propeller Health

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