Crowdfunding isn’t just for raising money, at least in the eyes of digital health company Scanadu.
The startup, which is vying for the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE with its medical scanner, brought in some $1.2 million through crowdfunding platform indiegogo earlier this year. But it also did something interesting that might become more common for over-the-counter medical devices for consumers: It said it’s using the campaign as a way to collect clinical trial data that will eventually support an application for U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance.
On its indiegogo page, Scanadu made clear that its medical scanner, which measures and records vital signs, had not been reviewed by the FDA and is not intended to make specific diagnosis at this point. Rather, it’s a research tool used to “collect, store and display all of your information.”
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Donors who backed the campaign with $199 or more, and received a prototype of the device in exchange, could opt to share their data and feedback with Scanadu.
I asked CEO Walter De Brouwer what was behind the decision to launch the campaign pre-FDA clearance, and here’s what he had to say:
Crowdfunding is going to revolutionize everything. It validates the market for a product. We also see it as a huge opportunity to improve our device. Every day we receive emails from parents, researchers, doctors, scientists expressing their need and desire for something like this. We thought, if we open up our device to the crowds en masse, we might get new ideas, use cases and features to make Scanadu even better. That’s our theory: If you give medicine to the crowds, they’ll come up with a new kind of medicine. They might do things with it that surprises you. Together we can design it, come and we will build.
De Brouwer said data sharing is completely optional and will happen in the framework of official clinical studies.
