When Christie Mangir was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2016, she yearned for data to quantify her symptoms and track her medication intake.
She was desperate for a tool that would help her understand the side effects treatment had on her.
So, with the help of friends, she created a spreadsheet and began charting side effects and treatment timelines.
“It transformed how I took care of myself and how my oncologist took care of me,” she said.
Instead of long appointments with 40 minutes of question and answer on her symptoms and treatment, Mangir came armed with swaths of data for her doctor to analyze.
“Now I would bring in charts and she would take 30 seconds to read and understand where I was,” she said.
“Why doesn’t something like this exist, this is what patients and oncologists need,” she remembered wondering at the time.
Now, Mangir, and the friends that helped her create those initial spreadsheets, have created a solution for patients in search of treatment data.
Tela launched in 2017, looking to close the information gap between cancer patient visits. Patients can use the app, available on IOS and Android, to track symptoms, medications, and psychological wellness to inform their care team. They have the ability to chart the frequency and severity of symptoms on a daily basis.
For providers, this data gives them additional insights into their patients, before they even step through the door for an appointment. Now, rather than going over symptoms, they can instead focus valuable time on solutions for their patients.
“We’re helping them identify risks and help provide better patient-centered care,” Mangir said.
The Tela team is split between Washington D.C. and Denver, working out of Catalyst HTI, a coworking space and center for healthcare innovation, in RiNo.
The patient facing app launched recently and is free to all cancer patients. In the future, Mangir said patients will have the option to contribute their data to research.
Tela will also launch pilots with providers in 2019, offering a clinic facing portal that will bring targeted insights to cancer doctors.
“We can help close the gap on what’s happening outside the clinic and outside clinical trials,” she said.
The company had been self-funded to this point, but is starting a pre-seed round raise of $750,000, Mangir said.
What started as just a way to track symptoms and medication has become so much more for Mangir and the Tela team.
“The power of the data we’re collecting can be really impactful on patient care,” she said.
