General News

Sanofi, Evidation Health extend partnership

August 17, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Pharmaceutical company Sanofi and Evidation Health have extended their partnership for three years to use patient-generated health data to develop innovative solutions and improve outcomes for disease management.

Sanofi will tap Evidation’s expertise in quantifying the impact of patient behaviors in real life on the eventual outcome of a course of treatment. The agreement builds upon Evidation Health and Sanofi’s prior work in translating patient-generated behavioral data to quantified clinical and economic outcomes.

“Consumers are sharing their digital footprint through wearables, sensors and apps, and we need to listen, so we can better help them navigate their day-to-day health journey,” said Christine Lemke, cofounder and president of Evidation Health, in a statement. “By partnering with Sanofi’s innovative team, we have an opportunity to better manage population health in the digital era by illuminating underlying health behaviors in a privacy-safe and patient-permissioned way.”

The Evidation technology platform enables life sciences companies to efficiently evaluate the impact of behaviors on health outcomes through linking real-life data from connected devices with medical and contextual data in virtual studies that leverage digital biomarkers across therapeutic areas.

“Working closely with Evidation and its distinctive analytics platform will help us better understand the factors that affect patient outcomes,” said Heather Bell, senior vice president and global head of digital and analytics at Sanofi. “We can then use those insights to support patients and health care professionals in managing disease and delivering the most value from our therapies.”

Researchers develop smartphone spectrometer

August 16, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

URBANA, Ill. ‑ Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a spectrometer that attaches to a smartphone to analyze samples of blood, urine and saliva, as well as clinical instruments.

“Our transmission-reflectance-intensity analyzer is like the Swiss Army knife of biosensing,” said Brian Cunningham, the director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab at the University of Illinois, in a statement.

The TRI analyzer uses a smartphone’s camera as a high-performance spectrometer to collect data from an LED light sent through an inserted sample cartridge. The optical components are then arranged in a 3D-printed plastic cradle. In studying the analyzer’s ability to perform a test on detecting the biomarker associated with pre-term birth in pregnant women and a PKU test to detect an enzyme for growth and development, researchers found the results of both tests were comparable in the results reached by conventional lab equipment.

“It’s capable of performing the three most common types of tests in medical diagnostics, so in practice, thousands of already-developed tests could be adapted to it,” Cunningham said.

The TRI Analyzer can measure multiple samples in a single cartridge. The researchers hope the tool can be used in rural areas, where access to care and laboratory testing can be limited.

Connected Health Summit panel to examine barriers to digital health adoption

August 15, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

SAN DIEGO – The biggest barrier to the adoption of digital health solutions is legacy—legacy technology, legislation and design—according to Scott Plewes, vice president of user experience at software and design firm Macadamian.

“The challenge is that all of these barriers are so interconnected,” he said about his upcoming panel discussion at Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit Aug. 29-31 in San Diego. “The problem is that, by their very nature, they are connected, but not in terms of the architecture of the procedures and the technologies that should connect them.”

The “Healthcare UX: Designing the Best Customer Experience” panel discussion will feature: Plewes; Stuart Slutzky, chief of product innovation at Humana Wellness Solutions; Kevin Yamazaki, CEO of Sidebench; and moderator Brad Russell, a senior analyst at Parks Associates. The group will discuss how engagement starts with human-centric user interface designs and personalized service experiences, and will invite leading health care organizations at the conference to discuss their own digital service platform innovations and their impact on the customer experience, patient engagement and care outcomes.

Plewes expects the health care industry will continue to face legacy problems for years to come, but that’s where digital health experts come in.

“It may sound like an insurmountable challenge to face, but as digital experience designers, it’s an exciting time for us to be innovative,” he said.

Parks Associates, an expert in researching the digital health sector since 2006, has designed the “Connected Health Summit” to spotlight health technologies as part of the Internet of Things and the transformational impact of connected solutions on the U.S. health care system. Speakers at the Summit will include: John Cosgriff, chief strategy officer at UnitedHealthcare; Dr. Saquib Rahim, chief medical officer for Aetna Digital; Dale Rayman, senior vice president, actuarial consulting & business development for Sharecare Inc.; and Chanin Wendling, assistant vice president for informatics at Geisinger Health System.

MannKind, One Drop study inhaled insulin integration for diabetes patients

August 7, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

VALENCIA, Calif. – Biopharmaceutical company MannKind Corp. is collaborating with diabetes digital health company One Drop to study the use of inhaled insulin with the One Drop digital diabetes care platform.

The A-ONE randomized controlled study will investigate the use of Afrezza inhaled insulin and One Drop’s integrated digital diabetes care platform.

“This study is intended to evaluate whether combining a solutions-oriented digital disease management platform like One Drop with an innovative drug like Afrezza will provide patients with an improved ability to manage their diabetes,” said Dr. Raymond Urbanski, chief medical officer of MannKind Corp., in a statement.

Study participants with Type 2 diabetes will be randomized to one of two treatment arms: Afrezza with One Drop | Premium or One Drop | Premium alone. Changes in hemoglobin A1C, quality of life, self-care, treatment satisfaction and other metrics will be assessed.

“We know each piece of the puzzle works, and now we want to see how well they work together,” said Dr. Chandra Osborn, vice president of health and behavioral informatics at One Drop, in a statement. “The combination of One Drop with inhaled insulin could offer consumers, health care providers and payers a potentially powerful solution with unprecedented benefits.”

Device trials still ignore sex, race and age, study finds

August 4, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

CHICAGO – Few medical device trials consider the user’s sex, age or race when it comes to safety and effectiveness, according to a study published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“Our new study shows how these important patient groups are also being overlooked in the evaluation of medical devices,” said Dr. Sanket Dhruva, one of the study’s researchers, in the published report.

Researchers at Yale and the University of California-San Francisco examined 82 studies filed in 2015 with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in support of premarket approval for original medical devices. They found that only 9% were analyzed by age and 4% by race. Of the 77 studies that included both men and women, only 17% were analyzed by sex.

The researchers also found infrequent analyses despite an action plan implemented by the FDA in 2014 calling for examination of results by age, race and/or ethnicity.

“When such data were reported, we often could not determine if statistical tests or analyses were employed,” Dhruva said. “This makes it difficult to evaluate the clinical significance of the findings.”

The age and sex of study participants were reported in only about two-thirds of all studies supporting agency premarket approval for medical devices in 2015. Race and/or ethnicity was reported in about half.

Investments in digital health top $6B this year

August 1, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

‘We’re living in a moment of total revolution in health care’

NEW YORK – Investors have poured more than $6 billion into digital health companies in the first half of this year with much more to come, according to a recent report by the health entrepreneur network StartUp Health.

“It’s becoming clear that we’re living in a moment of total revolution in health care due to a wave of innovation going on,” said Unity Stoakes, co-founder and president of StartUp Health.

The report cited more than 10 deals at more than $100 million in the first half of 2017, spanning sectors that include big data and analytics to patient education and wellness.

The report found the largest deal yet to be $914 million for early cancer detection startup Grail. It also reported that the most active metro markets for digital health funding were the San Francisco Bay area, New York and Boston.

The driving force behind all of this digital health investment? An industry-wide mission to deliver better care at a lower cost, said Karen Griffith Gryga, chief investment officer at Dreamit Ventures.

“All investment trails lead back to this statement,” she said. “Better care encompasses all forms of new technology to address specific disease states or conditions, as well as data analytics to enable population health and personalized medicine.”

The growth potential in digital health investments is huge, Griffith Gryga said, because the industry is just beginning to understand how to leverage patient-generated data and insights.

The convergence of three factors are creating massive opportunities for investors, Stoakes said: health reform that is disrupting the business model; the demand being created by patients with chronic diseases and an aging population that wants to stay at home; and a digital revolution in health care.

“Technology is making things more efficient and enabling us to bring health care into our homes and our every day lives,” he said. “We can leapfrog what’s already been done and create a new future for what’s possible in health care delivery.”

Investors pour funds into digital health

July 28, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

NEW YORK – Digital health funding is on track to have its biggest year on record, with more than $6 billion invested in digital health companies already in 2017, according to a mid-year report by StartUp Health.

“We anticipate this year to be the biggest yet as huge deals continue to trend more frequently,” the report’s authors said.

The report cited more than 10 deals at over $100 million in the first half of 2017, spanning sectors that include Big Data and analytics to patient education and wellness.

“Investors continue to find health innovation to be an exciting opportunity to deploy capital,” the report’s authors said.

Study finds home blood pressure monitors inaccurate most of the time

July 21, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

EDMONTON, Canada ‑ Readings from home blood pressure monitors are inaccurate 70% of the time, according to results of a recent study by researchers at the University of Alberta.

“High blood pressure is the No. 1 cause of death and disability in the world,” said Jennifer Ringrose, who led the research study, in a statement. “Monitoring for and treating hypertension can decrease the consequences of this disease. We need to make sure that home blood pressure readings are accurate.”

Results of the study were published recently in the American Journal of Hypertension.

The researchers tested several dozen home blood pressure monitors and found they were inaccurate within five mmHg about 70% of the time, and were inaccurate by 10 mmHg about 30% of the time.

The study examined the results of 85 patients. Researchers compared the results of the participants’ home monitors with the “gold standard” of two observers taking several blood pressure measurements simultaneously, blinded to one another, with a third person ensuring agreement between both observers’ readings. The majority of individual devices showed clinically-relevant inaccuracy. The team also found that readings were more inaccurate in men than in women.

The researchers advised patients who are instructed by their physician to monitor their blood pressure through a device at home to take several readings and compare them.

The researchers said that arm shape, arm size, the stiffness and age of blood vessels and the type of blood pressure cuff are not always considered when a blood pressure machine is designed and validated, said Raj Padwal, study co-author, in a statement.

They said a greater effort needs to be made among industry and academia to develop more accurate devices.

Finalists announced in Alexa Diabetes Challenge

July 20, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

NEW YORK – Five finalists have been announced in the Alexa Diabetes Challenge, a multi-stage prize competition sponsored by Merck & Co. for innovators to develop Alexa voice-enabled solutions for diabetes patients.

“We are extremely impressed with the novel thinking brought forth in the finalist submissions,” said Kimberly Park, vice president of customer strategy and innovation, global human health, Merck, in a statement. “These five concepts help us envision how voice technology can help improve health and quality of life for patients with chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.”

The competition received 96 submissions from across the health care landscape, including research institutions, software companies, startups and health care providers for ideas for voice-enabled solutions to improve the lives of those with Type 2 diabetes.

Each finalist received $25,000 and 10,000 Amazon World Services promotional credits to advance to the Virtual Accelerator, where they will receive expert mentorship as they continue to develop their proposals.

The five finalists are:

 DiaBetty, University of Illinois: A virtual diabetes educator and at-home coach that is sensitive and responsive to the patient’s mood, enhancing patient skills for self-management.

 My GluCoach, HCL America, Inc.: A holistic management solution that blends the roles of voice-based diabetes teacher, lifestyle coach and personal assistant to serve the individual and specific needs of the patient.

 PIA: Personal intelligent agents for Type 2 diabetes, Ejenta: A connected care intelligent agent that uses NASA-licensed AI technology integrated with IoT device data to encourage healthy habits, detect at-risk behaviors and abnormalities, and alert care teams.

 Sugarpod, Wellpepper: A multimodal solution, including a smart foot scanner, that provides specialized voice, mobile, video and web interactions based on the task and patient preferences to support patient adherence to comprehensive care plans.

 T2D2: Taming Type 2 diabetes, together, Elliot Mitchell, Biomedical Informatics PhD Student at Columbia University, and team: A virtual nutrition assistant that uses machine learning to provide in-the-moment personalized education and recommendations, as well as meal planning, and food and glucose logging.

The winner of the Alexa Diabetes Challenge will receive $125,000.

Wearables will transform insurance industry, experts say

July 18, 2017 by Kathy Dion Leave a Comment

‘Enabling a new business model that shifts the focus from selling things to selling results’

CUPERTINO, Calif. – The wearables market could be worth $25 billion in two years, according to a new report from market research firm CCS Insight, and industry leaders say the technology will have a significant effect on the health insurance space as it becomes ubiquitous.

“The data obtained by wearables will produce significant benefits for consumers,” said Michael Macauley, CEO of Quadrant Information Services, which prices and analyzes health insurance policies. “It will help give them the best individual policy and rates, and, for insurers, it will provide a degree of understanding of their market that they can now only dream about. It’s a win-win.”

Another report by the consulting firm Accenture found that 64% of health insurance companies plan to engage with new digital partners in the near future and that many will move toward real-time digital engagement platforms as they adopt mobility and Internet of Things solutions.

“Wearables are powering an ‘outcome economy’ and enabling a new business model that shifts the focus from selling things to selling results,” wrote the authors of the Accenture report.

Many insurance companies, like Cigna and Aetna, are now offering wearables to members who participate in wellness or fitness programs. Programs like these reward members or offer them discounts when they make efforts to track and/or document their efforts to better their health, said Robb Hecht, a marketing professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York.

“In the long run, these incentives lower members’ costs while also lowering insurers’ costs to pay out for medical coverage,” he said.

Instead of relying on estimates, insurers can also use real-time data collected from wearables to calculate risk for individual and group health insurance plans with a higher degree of accuracy.

“Wearables present a way of giving insurance companies access to summarized data that will allow them to scale premiums,” said Chalisa Prarasri, CEO of Opter Life, which makes a lifestyle wearable. “Giving people a financial incentive to better care for themselves is one of the most effective ways to build habits and change behaviors.”