Glaxo and Pfizer-backed firm launches digital HIV service

ViiV Healthcare, a specialist HIV company established in 2009 by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, has launched a new digital healthcare service in partnership with a London hospital to improve access to care for HIV patients. 

Klick is the new service provided by the partnership between ViiV and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The new platform uses digital healthcare tools to triage patients according to their medical needs. It is supported by a mobile app that allows patients to manage appointments, complete health assessments, review results and communicate with their healthcare team.

The service has been created to meet the current demands on HIV healthcare services, which have increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as clinics close and consultations switch to online appointments. By using Klick, healthcare staff can assess patients’ clinical needs remotely, and communicate with them without needing to meet face-to-face. 

ViiV’s mission is to apply innovation to HIV treatment and prevention, as well as support communities affected by HIV. They have also worked on anti-discrimination campaigns around the world, such as with MTV in South Africa on an award-winning TV drama to dispel the stigma around same-sex relationships; and in the US to share the stories of Black transgender women living with HIV. 

Dr David Asboe, Clinical Director for HIV at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, explains that technology is an important part of caring for people with HIV: “We have made significant advances in the care of people living with HIV, but this work is not finished. In many regards, it has just begun. Our combined efforts have shifted HIV from an acute to a predominantly long-term condition. This brings its own challenges and responsibilities. 

“It is our duty to understand the emerging needs of our patient cohort, to design care that is responsive to these needs, and to provide care in a sustainable fashion. We must achieve these things with a backdrop of the challenges we now also face with Covid-19. Health systems are under more pressure than ever and using new technologies in a way that genuinely enables our services to evolve is absolutely critical to ensuring we can continue to improve how we deliver quality care to our patients.”

Klick’s design has been led by members of Viiv Healthcare’s innovation team along with both clinical and non-clinical staff from the Kobler Clinic, an outpatient clinic that’s part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. It is gradually being rolled out to patients at the clinic, which is one of the largest HIV centres in Europe. In the coming months it will be expanded to other sites that are part of the hospital trust. 

Commenting on innovation with a health system, Dr Thomas Van Every, Global Medical Affairs Director at ViiV Healthcare, said: “All too often, innovations in healthcare fail when placed into the complex environment of a health system. ViiV Healthcare’s innovation specialists design solutions which leverage technology but are also rooted in the science of implementation. 

“This demonstrates our commitment to understanding the drivers and barriers to implementing innovations in real-world settings. Our partnership with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has combined experience in innovation with delivering quality care to patients within the NHS. The output is a robustly tested service for HIV patients, designed to be fit for the future of HIV care.”