More and more people are healing from cancer, but recovery after the disease is still given little attention. 'Especially in young adults, the impact is huge,' knows Pieter Beynen, co-founder of Leiden startup Healthy Chronos. 'It is also called the black hole after cancer.' Healthy Chronos' data-driven app gives patients insight into their recovery, making it easier for them to pick up their lives again.
The power of innovation
The app analyses mood, sleep quality, fatigue, physical symptoms and daily activities based on scores users enter. 'Entering requires less than two minutes a day,' Pieter says. Furthermore, you can link a smartwatch to the app. 'After two weeks, you already have a good insight into the biggest obstacles to your recovery. That could be poor sleep or long working days, for example. As a result, the app helps you adjust, so you can better adjust your activities to your recovery and fatigue.'
Social value
Pieter: 'Half of all Dutch people will get cancer once. Although more and more people are cured, recovery often takes years. That has a great impact, also on society in the form of downtime and rising healthcare costs.' The innovation not only improves the individual quality of life after cancer. 'With our app, we also want to prevent some of the social costs.' In addition, researchers use Healthy Chronos' platform to unlock data from wearables such as Fitbit and Apple Watch for research. By doing so, they develop and improve data- and lifestyle-oriented care.
"With our app, we are helping young people discover what affects their fatigue and recovery after cancer," said Mr. K.
InnovationQuarter's role
In 2021, Pieter and his two associates collected a voucher for the ZorgTech innovation programme. They used this for a practice validation in collaboration with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, physiotherapy practice B&B Healthcare and Medical Delta Living Lab Better In Better Out. They applied the acquired insights in the HealthTech Accelerator. 'We learned a lot from that. Through regular meetings and one-on-one coaching, you learn to understand the core value of your product and ask yourself the right questions. The ecosystem you become part of is also very valuable. That is really the strength of InnovationQuarter.'
Future plans
'We started with a data platform for healthcare providers. The sharp questions during InnovationQuarter's HealthTech Accelerator made us shift the focus to young people with cancer. They turned out to benefit much more from our solution. We now have a completely different product than the one we started with.' With user feedback, the entrepreneurs aim to make their app even more personal in the near future, to help even more people recover.
