DiamPark: A game-changing digital companion for Parkinson’s patients

Insights: Hello Djamchid and Caroline. The average age of first diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is estimated to be around 60, which is quite late for a disease whose symptoms often appear earlier. In your opinion, why is treating patients so challenging?

C.A.: Making an accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in its early stages can be quite challenging. Beyond the “typical” triad of symptoms—tremors, rigidity, and slowness of movement—the initial symptoms are generally varied and non-specific from one patient to another, thus delaying diagnosis, sometimes by as much as 5 or 10 years. The lack of a clear diagnosis is therefore a major issue.

Once the correct diagnosis has been made, the only currently available options are symptomatic treatments designed to compensate for the lack of dopamine.

D.D.: I would add that patients often find themselves isolated and struggling to cope with a complex disease whose symptoms can fluctuate from day to day. Their expectations in terms of treatment are high and, despite the increase in prevalence, research is producing very few solutions, with clinical trials relying on inaccurate assessments made at a later stage and based on the patient’s memory. The question then arises as to whether the criteria used to measure treatment effectiveness are the best ones for advancing research and development.

Insights: Djamchid, you are a polytechnician, a physicist, and an entrepreneur. Following your diagnosis, you founded the start-up DiamPark in 2020. What motivated you to create the company and how does it help address the challenges mentioned above?

D.D.: DiamPark was born out of a desire to transform the daily support provided to Parkinson’s patients through an innovative mobile app called DigiPark. It has three main features:

• An electronic pillbox that reminds patients when to take their medication and helps them adhere to their treatment regimen, which can be quite complex given that patients typically need to take multiple doses and/or medications and even the slightest omission can have a significant impact on their daily lives.
• A symptom diary for motor and non-motor symptoms, where patients can record symptoms (tremors, speech problems, etc.) either by self-assessing their discomfort on a scale or by objectively measuring raw data from their watch or phone.
• Rehabilitation exercises (voice dictation, calligraphy, speech therapy, physical therapy, etc.) to strengthen motor skills, speech, swallowing, and other affected abilities, thereby slowing the progression of the disease.

C.A.: We’ve also included a calendar for medical appointments and a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can answer over 100 questions about the disease, which have been approved and validated by healthcare professionals and patients.

Lastly, we’re developing the DigiPark Monitor, a remote medical monitoring solution that gives healthcare professionals real-time access to data collected by patients in the course of their everyday lives. The aim is to improve therapeutic decision-making, facilitate early detection of complications, and fine-tune treatments. As such, DigiPark is both a digital companion for patients, enabling them to holistically manage their health and quality of life, and a valuable monitoring and assessment tool for healthcare professionals.

Insights: What role did patients play in the development of the app?

D.D.: Informed by my own experience, DigiPark was designed by and for Parkinson’s patients. We now have 3,500 users, but patients are not just mere users. We have involved them in the design and development of the app since the beginning, and we continue to refine and optimize DigiPark based on their feedback.

C.A.:  Having a founder who is a patient himself, who lives with the disease, gives us a sense of responsibility in how we run the startup and forces us to work to a very high standard. But patients are not the only players in our project. We also work closely with neurologists, speech therapists, physical therapists, and therapeutic education professionals. A multidisciplinary approach is key to improving patient care. Professor Neziha Gouider Khouja, a neurologist specializing in neuroscience, and Manon Ranvier, a speech therapist, are valuable contributors to the project.

Insights: DiamPark is one of the first start-ups to be selected by Spartners by Servier & Biolabs, the accelerator hosted at the Servier Research and Development Institute in Paris-Saclay. How has this program contributed to your work, and what challenges have you encountered?

D.D.: Creating a start-up is the “easy” part. The real challenge is delivering long-term value. Our ongoing involvement with Servier experts has been instrumental in helping us refine our business model. At present, our main challenge is financing, so that we can continue to successfully complete our projects, such as remote monitoring. Working in an ecosystem like Saclay and being part of the accelerator has opened up many opportunities for collaboration, particularly at major international events such as JP Morgan Healthcare.

Insights: What does the future hold for DiamPark?

C.A: We currently have three main avenues of development:

• Expand DigiPark to other markets. Our application is currently recognized as a medical device in Europe and is available in nine languages. We plan to roll it out across all European countries, before setting our sights on the American and Asian markets. Our goal is to become the leader in the assessment, treatment, and monitoring of Parkinson’s disease, in order to help the more than 10 million Parkinson’s patients around the world live better every day.
• Extend DigiPark to other diseases. We are looking to adapt DigiPark for other neurological diseases — ataxia, stroke sequelae, etc. — which have a similar care pathway, involving episodic follow-up by a neurologist, a speech therapist, and a physical therapist.
• Make DigiPark a unique, powerful, and secure database to advance clinical research. The vast amount of data collected from app users about their symptoms, prescriptions, adherence, and disease progression is invaluable to research teams because it is information that comes directly from patients: “Patient Reported Outcomes”. Using these data in clinical trials could potentially expedite the search for new therapeutic solutions.

Insights: To sum up, Djamchid, what advice would you give to a patient wishing to venture into HealthTech?

D.D.: Start with the patient’s needs. If you address the patient’s needs, then you’re also addressing the healthcare professional’s needs. Then, assess your added value, what you can truly contribute. And lastly, it’s essential to be resilient — launching a project, securing funding, and finding partners are all crucial stages in building a solid foundation.

[1] France Parkinson, Journée mondiale de la maladie de Parkinson : France Parkinson alerte sur l’augmentation inquiétante du nombre de personnes malades. Il est urgent d’agir ! https://www.franceparkinson.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/DP-Journee-Mondiale-2025.pdf, consulted on 29 April 2025
[2] France Parkinson, Comprendre la maladie, https://www.franceparkinson.fr/comprendre-la-maladie-de-parkinson/, consulted on 29 April 2025
[3] Institut Pasteur, Parkinson, https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/centre-medical/fiches-maladies/parkinson, consulted on 29 April 2025
[4] France Parkinson, La pose du diagnostic de la maladie de Parkinson, https://www.franceparkinson.fr/comprendre-la-maladie-de-parkinson/la-pose-du-diagnostic-de-la-maladie-de-parkinson/, consulted on 29 April 2025
[5] The Lancet, Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021,https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(24)00038-3/fulltext