Boehringer Ingelheim has launched a new mobile app as part of its push to raise awareness of the rare chronic lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
The IPF Sound Challenge iPhone and Android app aims to help doctors learn about the unique ‘Velcro crackles’ commonly heard in the lungs of patients with IPF and recognise them as a sign that further investigation could be needed.
The app plays a series of recorded auscultations of both diseased and healthy lungs in patients at rest, as captured through an electronic stethoscope, and quizzes listeners on what they are hearing.
The recordings can also be listened to via Boehringer’s Sounds of IPF website which, along with its inIPF website and the Boehringer Ingelheim Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis YouTube channel, marks an increase in its awareness efforts.
The company, which says its cancer drug nintedanib could be approved in IPF by the end of the year, is also working with online community PatientsLikeMe to enhance its efforts in IPF.
