DigitalHealth.London Spotlight: Avegen

Every week, we shine a spotlight on one of our DigitalHealth.London companies, founders, or NHS fellows. Today, to commemorate World AIDS Day, we are excited to feature our current DigitalHealth.London Accelerator company Avegen.

What is the problem you are trying to solve and why is it important?

Outpatient clinics across the NHS are under unprecedented pressure, facing long waiting times, rising patient demand, and constrained resources. These challenges are compounded by inefficient processes, administrative burdens, and outdated systems, reducing clinicians’ time with patients and delaying access to care.

For example, around 107,000 people are living with HIV in the UK, and the number of new diagnoses continues to rise, adding to the strain on outpatient services. At the same time, 8 million outpatient appointments were marked as DNAs last year, and overall outpatient waiting lists have exceeded 7 million patients, with many services seeing waiting times double compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Additionally, administrative tasks account for 20% of clinicians’ time, reducing the time available for direct patient care. Patients are waiting longer than ever for the care they need, while healthcare teams are stretched thin trying to meet demand.

At Avegen, we recognise the critical importance of solving these problems, particularly in outpatient care, where timely intervention is crucial for patient wellbeing. Outpatient care must evolve to meet NHS England’s vision of accessible, efficient, and patient-centred care. Addressing these challenges will ensure clinicians can focus on what they do best: delivering timely, high-quality care and improving the lives of millions of people.

What is the solution you have developed and how can it help with the problem?

We have developed HealthMachine®, our advanced remote patient management software, to transform outpatient care and deliver measurable outcomes. HealthMachine® empowers patients to confidently manage long-term conditions while equipping clinicians with the tools and insights they need to provide optimised care remotely.

HealthMachine® offers a versatile and customisable set of features that allow us to rapidly configure solutions tailored to the needs of a specific condition. By streamlining patient management, HealthMachine® reduces clinician workload, improves clinic capacity, and optimises patient demand. It helps reduce DNA rates, enhances engagement, and ensures healthcare teams can deliver efficient, scalable, and compliant care.

What is the history of your company?

Avegen was founded in 2015 by Dr. Nayan Kalnad and Neeraj Apte, with a mission to make quality healthcare more sustainable and accessible. Motivated by the challenges patients face in receiving personalised, high-quality care, and the pressures clinicians face in meeting this demand, they aim to make a meaningful impact.

Our journey began with digitising a cardiac rehab workflow in partnership with Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB), helping almost 3000 patients manage their heart health better. Since then, we’ve expanded to 18 distinct clinical pathways, supporting almost 100,000 patients in England, and 2 million worldwide.

What successes have you had so far from successful pilots/trials/contracts?

We’re proud of the impact we have made so far in transforming HIV outpatient care. Our collaboration with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on Klick won the 2024 HSJ NHS Partnership Award for Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign. Together, we’ve achieved meaningful results, including:

• 41% reduction in DNA rates
• 50% decrease in waiting list times
• In-year cost savings of £140k per clinic
• Patient satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5

In addition to these outcomes, Klick’s success is supported by published evidence in peer-reviewed journals, and building on this we are working closely with the Trust to expand HealthMachine® into other therapy areas.

What are your future goals? What does success look like?

Our future goals are focused on expanding the implementations of HealthMachine® across other NHS Trusts to create a lasting impact in outpatient care. Building on our success with HIV clinics, we aim to support a wider range of long-term health conditions, including endometriosis, multiple sclerosis, prostate cancer, and mental health.

Success for us means empowering both patients and clinicians with innovative, scalable solutions that enhance care quality, streamline clinical workflows, and improve patient outcomes. By partnering with DigitalHealth.London and NHS Trusts, we aspire to drive system-wide efficiencies, reduce waiting lists, and make personalised, sustainable healthcare accessible to all.

How has your time on the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator helped you in achieving these?

The shared knowledge has been invaluable, helping us refine our approach and uncover new opportunities. We have really enjoyed connecting with the other cohort members and learning from their experiences. It is inspiring to see the range of innovative solutions being developed by companies at similar stages of growth. Our navigator, Yasmin, has also given us some good insight into the operational and service side of running outpatient clinics. We’re excited about the upcoming networking days with different London Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and can’t wait to see what else we can learn and accomplish together during the programme.

Do you have any advice for aspiring digital health companies?

For anyone looking to get into digital health, our advice is to mix passion with practicality. It’s easy to be swept up in the emotional side of wanting to make a real difference in healthcare, many of us are motivated by personal stories. However, it’s really important to stay grounded and think about the challenges you’ll face along the way.

Ask the hard questions early on: How will you get regulatory approval? What’s your plan for reimbursement? These considerations can feel daunting, but they’re crucial for building something that lasts.

Most importantly, make sure you’re crystal clear on the problem you’re solving and stay rational in your approach. Passion is key, but combining it with a thoughtful, strategic mindset will truly make a difference.

Any asks for the audience?

If you’re working within the NHS and are looking to transform your outpatient care, let’s talk about how we can work together to improve care efficiency and deliver better outcomes for your patients.

Avegen is currently in Cohort 8 of the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator programme.

The DigitalHealth.London Accelerator programme is funded by the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). It is delivered by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London in partnership with the Office of Life Sciences, CW+, Medicity, NHS England, the Mayor of London and the Levelling Up Fund.

For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-
shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus.