Vast amounts of information on medicines is available, especially online, but it is very hard to know what is reliable or even relevant for a specific patient. And, while each medicine comes with a detailed information leaflet, patients often find these difficult to read and understand.

This is an issue because when patients lack important information about their treatments, they may not take them correctly and this can result in further health problems. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) estimates that poor medication adherence may contribute to around 200 000 premature deaths in Europe every year.

The aim of Gravitate-Health is to develop a digital health information tool called the Gravitate Lens (G-Lens). As the name suggests, the G-Lens will focus (but not conceal or filter) approved information on medicines and guide patients to understandable, trustworthy, up-to-date information that meets the patient’s needs and fits with their health context and literacy levels. The functionality of the G-Lens will be supported by an open source digital platform.

More broadly, the project hopes to demonstrate that by making information on medicines more accessible and understandable, patients will be more likely to take their medicines correctly, resulting in better health outcomes and quality of life.

All stakeholders relevant to digital health information are involved in the project, including patient representatives, regulators, ministries, digital technology experts and more.

In addition to the open source platform underlying the G-Lens, the project will produce a white paper with recommendations on realistic strategies on the future use of digital services like electronic product information can be used to further minimise the risks associated with incorrect adherence to advice on medicines.