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Baltimore Company Develops First-Of-Its-Kind Prescription Drug App

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- In our region, the government estimates there are 11,000 companies working on cybersecurity.

As Mike Schuh reports, a Baltimore company showed off a first-of-its-kind product to top security officials Monday.

Anand Iver shows off the world's newest prescription drug, but in his hand is no capsule or pill---it's a phone.

"So let's say they type in 60 MG, which is low blood sugar. It will tell you right away," Iver said.

By interacting with this app, the company proved that diabetes patients stay healthier, have fewer medical problems and their care costs less.

"If you can keep patients from not bouncing around and keeping them gently in this safe zone, they live longer, their heart works longer, their kidneys work longer, they don't get amputation risks, things like that," Iver said.

This company president knows firsthand---he's a diabetic who uses his own product.

This is the first software ever to be licensed by the FDA as a prescription. Patients or their insurance companies will pay to have this app coach them into managing their condition.

"For the first time in world history, your doctor can write a prescription for software and have the health system remunerate for it," Iver said.

So then, how does the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee play into this? Because of privacy laws, this program is built on the cybersecurity protocols found in cutting-edge defense work.

"A lot of you who work in this field, the people I'm seeing today, know what the threat is, what the cyber attracts are, but we have to make sure the public understands that and always protect people's privacy," said Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger.

In the end, this novel application with cybersecurity roots could be a $1 billion market.

That company is also working on prescription applications for asthma and epilepsy.

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