Top 5 Digital Health Tech at CES

10 February, 2016, by ClinCaptureTeam

Olivier Roth is a digital marketing strategist and former Marketing Manager at ClinCapture . In 2014, Olivier launched Timelapse to create a new space for marketers and entrepreneurs to meet and learn from experienced peers. Timelapse also provides digital marketing consulting services to local biotech companies and start-ups. Prior to Timelapse, Olivier was Marketing Manager at Clinovo. Prior to ClinCapture , Olivier was working as a Strategic Marketing & Innovation Consultant at VivaSante, an international consumer healthcare company based in Paris.

170,000 attendees. 2.2 million net square feet of exhibit space. +3,500 exhibiting companies. CES is the world’s largest consumer technology conference.

In the recent years, the CES track dedicated to digital health has been steadily growing in terms of number of sessions, gadgets, and demos presented, showing how technology is transforming health care, blurring the line between “patients” and “consumers”.

We wanted to share with you a variety of interesting devices presented in the digital health category, from vital signs monitoring, to smartphones apps, to medical devices for diabetic patients, or biointegrated sensors.

What does it mean for a company like ours? As the leading of leading cloud-based eClinical software ClinCapture , we realize the importance of organizing and streamlining the data collection process from a growing number of sources. Behind ePRO systems that are already empowering patients to report outcomes in user-friendly mobile platforms, a new generation of biosensors and monitors is emerging. This added information could complement the current clinical trial process, better inform decisions and possibly prevent negative outcomes. We believe that the ability to integrate clinical data from disparate devices in real-time is a key driver in the future of eClinical systems.

Let’s take a closer look at the CES innovations.

Silver Mother

Silver Mother is a set of sensors to help monitor the health of seniors: To make sure medication is never forgotten, monitor daily living habits, sleep quality, temperature, water drinking habits, and even track the front door. The company behind this line of sensors is called Sen.se. The founder Rafi Haladjian says “every family can decide what is relevant for their loved one” and use the sensors in ways that are most appropriate.

VisioMed’s Bewell Connect App + Meter

VisioMed, a French company, introduced the Bewell Connect system. It is composed of an app that communicates with medical devices such as a glucose meter, thermostat, blood pressure monitor, and blood oxygen sensor.

Presented as a “virtual checkup” toolset, it allows users to send the information to their physician by the push of a button on the app. The app will also locate nearby health care providers.

Qardio Heart Monitors

Qardio brings a new generation of heart monitors to the market. The company offers a “better way of tracking health that fits effortlessly into your life”. They presented a series of clinically-validated devices to continuously monitor blood pressure and heart rate. They also offer a way to conduct an electrocardiogram at home.

The company also offers the ability to feed all the data via a secure platform to a designated physician, giving the cardiologist or primary-care doctor the ability to track trends over time and react to quick changes.

Medtronic and IBM

Medtronic showcased its partnership with IBM Watson Health at CES this year. IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty delivered the event keynote, presenting IBM Watson, a “cognitive computing intelligence” paired with devices for medical and consumer use. The idea behind the system is to make sense of the growing influx of healthcare data from devices (medical or not) to enable consumers, patients, or their caregivers to take better informed decisions.

Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak demoed a new app that has the capability to predict hypoglycemia three hours in advance of it occurring (it is currently reviewed by the FDA).

Watson will synthesize information from Medtronic insulin pumps and CGM devices — detailed information like the rate of insulin delivered, the constantly fluctuating glucose level and carbohydrate intake information. The app may also integrate information sources like wearable activity trackers, digital scales, geo-location data, calendar details and even the weather, to develop more valuable and personalized insights.

Long-term Biointegrated sensors

Biointegrated sensors for long-term, continuous tracking of body chemistry may make health and disease monitoring as easy as turning on your smart phone. Unveiled by Profusa, tiny bioengineered biosensors will soon enable real-time detection of our body’s unique chemistry, providing action­able, medical-grade data for personal and medical use for as long as two years at a time.

According to Dr. Hwang, the company’s biosensors will have applications for consumer health and wellness, as well as the management of chronic diseases such as Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), diabetes, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

While many of us may struggle to maintain our fitness, others are faced with diabetes and other chronic diseases that affect more than 70 million individuals in the U.S., accounting for more than 75 percent of our healthcare expenditures — that’s $2 trillion, according to the National Health Council. This is putting the nation’s healthcare under even more pressures, with greater calls for consumers to become more health conscious, and the key driver for why the mobile health market alone is expected to reach $41 billion by 2020.