Propeller Health has raised $14.5 million in Series B financing, led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) with participation from Series A investor The Social+Capital Partnership. Propeller Health will use the funding to accelerate product development, strategic alliances, client services, sales and marketing.
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) currently cost payers and patients in the United States over $100 billion annually. By 2020, the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention estimates that the cost of medical care for adults in the U.S. with COPD alone will increase 53 percent to more than $90 billion.
Propeller is a digital therapeutic designed to help patients and their physicians better understand and control COPD, asthma and other respiratory disease, reducing preventable emergency room visits, hospitalizations and unnecessary suffering. With a novel combination of sensors, mobile apps, analytics and personalized feedback, the system encourages adherence to maintenance therapy and remotely monitors use of rescue medications to predict exacerbations and facilitate early intervention by care teams.
In the last year, Propeller Health doubled its number of commercial programs and added its first contract with an accountable care organization. In addition, the company recently received FDA clearance for a new inhaler sensor and is concluding a 500-person randomized control trial at Dignity Health. Propeller Health also released a version of the app for people with COPD and major updates to its physician dashboards, adherence programs and predictive algorithms.