ResApp Reports New Positive Trial Results in COPD, Other Lung Diseases

ResApp Health, an Australian company developing digital healthcare solutions for respiratory conditions, recently reported additional preliminary positive results of its adult clinical trial assessing the company’s app for the diagnosis of different lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary fibrosis (COPD).

According to a ResApp press release, the results showed that the app was able to differentiate adult patients with COPD, asthma, or pneumonia from those with no evidence of respiratory disease, with an accuracy of between 91 and 100 percent. The data also provides additional evidence of the app’s high levels of sensitivity and specificity.

In addition, the app could differentiate patients with an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) from patients with no respiratory disease with 100 percent accuracy. Moreover, the app was able to differentiate asthma from COPD, pneumonia from asthma, and pneumonia from COPD, with an accuracy of between 88 and 94 percent.

Researchers found that the ResApp’s technology was also able to identify lower respiratory tract disease in 84 percent of the adult patients analyzed by experienced clinicians who, using a stethoscope, were unable to make the diagnosis. After additional clinical tests, a diagnosis of lower respiratory tract disease was confirmed in these patients.

“We are pleased to again report high levels of accuracy in a significantly larger dataset, which continues to build our clinical evidence base as we progress towards FDA submission,” said ResApp CEO Tony Keating. “It is also excellent to note that once again our algorithms outperformed experienced clinicians by correctly detecting lower respiratory tract infection in patients initially diagnosed as clear.”

Trial recruitment of adult patients continues at Joondalup Health Campus and the Wesley Hospital. For more information please visit the company website at www.resapphealth.com.au.

In August, ResApp reported preliminary results of a clinical study conducted at Joondalup Health Campus and Princess Margaret Hospital in Australia, on 224 pediatric patients with asthma or viral wheeze. The results demonstrated ResApp’s algorithms were proficient in measuring disease severity in pediatric patients with asthma.

In the trial, the app differentiated patients either without asthma or with controlled asthma from patients with wheeze severity scores of 2 or greater with an 86 percent accuracy. This precision increased to 94 percent when additional observations were included in the analysis.

Also in August, the company reported initial preliminary results in 322 adults showing the app was able to diagnose COPD with 96 percent accuracy, asthma with 92 percent accuracy, and pneumonia with 100 percent accuracy. The results were comparable to the ones in the above-mentioned pediatric clinical trial.

ResApp also provided an update of SMARTCOUGH-C, its U.S. pediatric clinical trial to be conducted at three leading hospitals. This multi-site, double-blind study will investigate the effectiveness of the ResAppDx software application in diagnosing childhood pneumonia and other lung diseases based on cough sounds. The protocol is now complete and the trial should begin later this year.

Invented by Associate Prof. Udantha Abeyratne from the University of Queensland’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ResApp’s technology was built on the idea that cough and breathing sounds carry vital information on the state of the respiratory tract.

The app was developed using a machine-learning approach, and generates accurate algorithms that diagnose disease based on cough and respiratory sounds. The algorithms make the app “learn” and improve its diagnostic capacity over time.

Apart from being a quicker, cheaper, and more accurate option to diagnose lung diseases, the new app is also superior in telehealth scenarios, where patients living in remote places cannot be examined with a stethoscope. ResApp expects the app to be commercially available early next year.