Xcode wins $30,000 grant for improving medication adherence

BANGALORE, INDIA: Xcode Life Sciences, a Chennai-based biotechnology start-up, announced that it has received a $30,000 grant from The Grand Challenges in Tuberculosis Control (GC-TBC) program to deliver an out-of-the-box mobile innovation to enhance TB medication adherence.

The GC-TBC program is an initiative by IKP Knowledge Park (IKP) Hyderabad, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Foundation) to identify, fund, and nurture technology driven solutions that will assist TB control.

Xcode has been awarded the $30,000 grant to deliver their out-of-the-box innovation "health signals", a mobile education system that aims to improve TB medication adherence, by connecting peer educators and caregivers from local communities with TB patients.

Available in multiple languages, Xcode will combine specialized information on nutrition and medication to be delivered simultaneously to patients and peer educators to enhance the treatment of the disease. The service also enables caregivers to keep a track of their patient's medication adherence.

Xcode's mobile education system is being implemented in association with The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), the state-run tuberculosis control initiative of the Government of India. The RNTCP incorporates the principles of directly observed treatment-shortcourse (DOTS), the global TB control strategy of the World Health Organization.