The Start iPhone app helps people figure out quickly if their meds are working and collects insights that might help other sufferers.
Thirteen percent of American adults take antidepressant medications, according to a Nov. 3 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That's tens of millions of people using powerful drugs that work less than half the time, requiring patients to try several different medications, typically over six to nine months, before they find the right one. "We're throwing pills at the problem, but we're not giving people something to go along with those pills, which is namely the software that helps them understand: Is this working for them?" says Thomas Goetz, cofounder of patient-focused healthcare startup Iodine. The software Iodine offers is an iPhone app called Start that allows depression patients to track their progress and ascertain whether a new medication is helping, or if they and their doctor should try another.
