It’s coming up to five years now since Chad Walkaden and the team at OnTracka released their first patient mobile application into the Australian market.
Inspired by his own experiences as a cancer patient, the tech pioneer wanted to “legitimise cannabinoids into healthcare around the world”, as he described his ambitions back in mid-2020.
Since then, the business, much like the man behind it, has been on what could be best described as a journey of discovery.
For Walkaden, it’s been a journey in every sense of the word. He has become a father with his Peruvian wife, combining parental duties in Lima with regular business trips to the US.
As for OnTracka, it has undergone a significant behind-the-scenes evolution since its inception.
Along with continuously refining the tech infrastructure which underpins its offering, Walkaden hand-picked shareholders to provide specialist knowledge in the field of research. Together, they steered the company to what is has become; a major player in clinical research, real-world data and digital health.
“It’s been a story of maturing, both for myself and the business,” Walkaden told Cannabiz.
Speaking from the Peruvian capital, as he prepared to bring his son to Australian shores for the first time, he said: “I’ve learned a lot about myself since launching OnTracka. I’ve matured and become a father which changed my perspective in some ways.
“OnTracka too has matured. To some degree I think we shot ourselves in the foot because we’ve been trying to maintain a free public app, which fuels the research. Yet that has somewhat confused our messaging because people think we’re just that, a free public app.
“What many are not aware of is that we’ve converted clinical trial researchers away from big, billion-dollar legacy systems to our own proprietary technology. It’s taken plenty of time and money but we’ve developed this vast, compliant infrastructure that is powering multiple FDA-approved clinical trials in the US.
“Despite these milestones, our messaging has not fully conveyed the scope of our impact, leaving some unaware of the transformative work we’re driving in the world of global cannabis research.”
That perception, however, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Having initially focused on building white-labelled apps that collect real-world data, Walkaden recalled how OnTracka identified a “glaring need” to add clinical trials to its arsenal as it navigated the Covid pandemic.
“During that time the whole research world was focused on vaccines,” he said. “We knew that cannabis research was going to become more important and we knew most of the research market wasn’t focused on it.
“We aimed to eliminate all white-labelled apps and instead design features centred on critical elements like precise titration, while also optimising the patient experience for seamless remote monitoring. Equally importantly, we prioritised reducing the time and administrative burden for researchers managing studies.
“This approach enabled us to deliver a robust, real-time data set, far surpassing the capabilities of outdated legacy systems, empowering researchers with streamlined workflows and richer insights.”
And so it proved.
From a start-up in 2020, with no track record in clinical research, OnTracka has built a reputation as a trusted, collaborative partner in a series of studies and clinical trials that share Walkaden’s ultimate goal of legitimising cannabinoid medicine.
“We want to collaborate with the Australian medicinal cannabis industry to conduct research. That’s the way we can move the needle, improve access for patients and provide better tools to make sense of the data,” he said.
EndoCann clinical trial
OnTracka is involved in a number of projects exploring the impact and effects of medicinal cannabis for a variety of indications.
Among them is a three-year clinical trial in conjunction with Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute to unlock the mysteries of cannabis use and endometriosis.
Led by NICM director of research Associate Professor Mike Armour and postdoctoral research fellow Dr Millie Mardon, the placebo-controlled EndoCann study uses OnTracka technology for every aspect of the trial, including the protocols that patients must adhere to, details of dose escalation, adverse events and all the validated instruments used to track and measure health changes in patient groups.
“The entire patient experience is through our back-end technology,” Walkaden explained. “Once researchers have determined what primary outcomes they are looking to achieve, that is put into a proposal which we then map out into what that could look like in a digital experience.
“We then work with the researchers to create the entire study. So from the front door of the study to its completion, all those endpoints are found inside the OnTracka app.”
Furthermore, all data monitoring by the research team is via OnTracka’s back-end technology.
As with all its trials and studies, OnTracka does not rely on a one-size-fits-all platform, but is custom built to fit the dynamics of any given project.
“It’s bespoke technology for every clinical trial,” Walkaden said. “In the past, researchers would use legacy technology which has a fairly static system and data input. OnTracka is custom built, and every aspect of the EndoCann study we will be flagging to researchers in real time.”
Compass compassionate access scheme
In recent months, OnTracka has lent its support to Compass, the compassionate access program launched in mid-2024 by the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA).
Initially designed to provide free or heavily discounted medicine to financially-strapped patients, OnTracka’s involvement will add a new research-gathering dimension to the scheme.
In addition to offering subsidised treatment, patients will soon be invited to download the OnTracka app and, through specially-developed software which integrates into the Compass platform, fill in monthly, clinically-verified questionnaires that will be shared with their prescribing medical practitioner.
This collection of real-world data for conditions such as pain, sleep and mental health will further add to the growing body of evidence for the use of medicinal cannabis, Walkaden said.
“Reports will go back to prescribing doctors and also be made available to participating industry partners in order to analyse optimal dosing, adverse events, and what had minimal effects. All of these things we need to know and Compass will help us find some of the answers.”
OnTracka will be working alongside the scheme’s distribution partner, Cannabis Warehouse, to execute the technology, which is expected to be launched in the coming days.
Cannabis Warehouse chief executive Eric Chan described it as a “wonderful example” of industry collaboration. In addition, OnTracka not only built the tech and gave freely of its time and expertise, but took up the task of producing an explanatory video for patients.
“OnTracka’s involvement is an important development for Compass as it will provide GPs with clinically-verified data and enable them to monitor their patients’ health objectively,” Chan told Cannabiz. “Prescribers will have additional information – pain scores for example, using OnTracka’s verified research methodologies – which we believe will enrich the consultation experience.”
Walkaden stressed the technology has been designed with the user experience in mind, as with all its real-world data gathering and clinical trials.
First Responder Program
OnTracka has been a long-time partner of the First Responder Program, an initiative established by health consultant David Lott to provide treatment plans for those on the front line of public service.
OnTracka’s role has been to collect a huge range of patient-reported data which is studied by treatment teams, including GPs, psychiatrists and psychologists, to shape the care program for patients, many of whom have complex and long-term injuries and illnesses.
Over the last 12 months, it has spearheaded a study into sleep disturbance, with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a secondary indication.
The OnTracka app is tailored to each patient, based on individual circumstances, with features including clinically-verified questionnaires, standardised monitoring for inhaled flowers, cartridges, oils and pastilles, symptom monitoring, journals and adverse events reporting.
Such is the intuitive nature of the platform, and its ease of use, that the study has a patient retention rate of 85%.
“It’s all around keeping the patient engaged throughout all aspects of the treatment, and OnTracka has nailed that, Lott said. “It’s a real-time interactive technology, with information fed back to a secure and compliant cloud portal that clinicians can review in the back end.”
Walkaden described its work with Lott and the First Responder Program as “huge”, not in terms of patient numbers, but in the retention rate and, perhaps more importantly, its learnings.
Anther project utilising OnTracka’s unique tech and its 1.2 million real-world data points is The Health Collective, again involving NICM Health Research Institute.
Numerous clinical papers are expected to be released under the research initiative, exploring the effect of medicinal cannabis on a range of indications. It will, according to Armour, throw up “clinically-relevant evidence to help clinicians and patients make clinical decisions”.
It is just this type of collaborative approach that Walkaden is convinced will “move the needle” and, over time, bring cannabinoids into mainstream medicine.